Franklin County rescuers rush to save woman pinned in pit on dairy farm
Franklin County firefighters rescued a woman trapped in a pit by a piece of machinery for more than an hour Tuesday.
The employee at Bengen Farms was working near a pit auger used to feed dairy cattle when her leg became caught in the equipment just after 8:20 a.m.
Both legs were pulled into the hole before other employees could shut off power to the the metal corkscrew-type machine, said Franklin County Fire District 3 Chief Mike Harris.
When Harris and other medical staff initially arrived, they found her sitting on the edge of the pit trapped from the knees down. She was seriously hurt.
Harris said it was one of the most complex industrial rescues they’ve ever faced.
The hole is slightly wider than the metal auger. And they couldn’t simply reverse the direction of the machine without hurting her even more.
Instead, they needed to pull out the entire piece of equipment from the hole.
But there was no easy way of disassembling the machine, so they cut through the bottom of the auger to remove it.
To get at it they needed to shovel the pile of dry, powdery meal away from where they needed to cut. That presented its own dangers since an errant spark could ignite the airborne powder.
That’s is where the remoteness of the farm about 20 miles north of Pasco hampered their efforts, said Harris.
Closer to town they could have called in a vacuum truck but they didn’t have time for that Tuesday.
“We improvised and used manpower and shovels,” Harris said.
Teamwork rescue
Before starting the process, they made sure the electricity was off to the machine, and detached the belts to make sure it wasn’t going to start moving once they began freeing her.
As they were working, a Life Flight emergency helicopter arrived and was waiting to rush her to the hospital. The medic from the helicopter worked with the other firefighters.
They also had help from the Pasco Fire Department’s Technical Rescue Team, Walla Walla County Fire District 5 and the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office.
They worked for 40 minutes cutting through the bottom of the auger.
“It seemed like it went on for hours,” Harris said.
She was immediately flown to Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland. Her condition was not available Tuesday afternoon.
Harris credited the success on how well the departments work together. Between regularly training with each other, and helping on responses to other incidents, they didn’t have to develop a new relationship.
This is the second complex rescue operation they’ve had this year. In May, Franklin County Fire District 3 and Pasco Fire Department along with other local agencies rescued a man hit on the head by a falling rock in a steep canyon at Palouse Falls State Park.
This story was originally published September 22, 2021 at 5:00 AM.