Leamington Fire receives new equipment

LEAMINGTON — Leamington Fire Services recently received a unique piece of rescue equipment called a R-E- S-Q-TUBE.

The tube, paid for through a grant supplied by Corteva Agriscience and the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA), was made available to two departments in each province this past week and Leamington was one of them. Leamington participated in CASA’s BeGrainSafe program last fall.

The R-E-S-Q-TUBE is used in rescues on farms where a person gets caught inside a grain bin or trailer. It is accompanied by a pencil auger. Leamington Fire had one such emergency last fall when a young girl fell into a wagon full of freshly harvested corn and quickly sank up to her neck.

“You don’t realize how powerful grain is until you’ve been stuck in it,” said Leamington fire Chief Andrew Baird. “It’s like quicksand.”

Pioneer Hybrid is the seed division of Corteva and they had two representatives on hand for the presentation.

The tube disassembles into pieces and quickly re-assembles for ease of use. The idea behind it is that rescue crews can insert the tube over the spot where the person is stuck, which creates a barrier and keeps any further grain from caving in the on the person. The Haul-All pencil auger is then used to gradually suck out the grain and free the patient.

From left, councillors John Jacobs, Paul Tiessen and Mayor Hilda MacDonald flank the R-E-S-Q-TUBE with Pioneer Hybrid’s George Drummelsmith and Peter Neufeld, and Leamington’s Director of Community and Development Services, Paul Barnable. In front are Deputy Fire Chief Mike Ciacelli, fire Inspector Derrick Clark and Fire Chief Andrew Baird.