Last year there were 42 grain entrapments across rural America which resulted in 15 fatalities — the highest number in more than a decade.

In 2021 a partial collapse of a silo at Mountaire Farms in Westover occurred, which while there were no injuries was a serious incident requiring emergency response.

To be proactive and prevent worker injury and death in these facilities, Nationwide and its partners is providing life-saving grain rescue tubes and training to 60 fire departments across rural America through its 2023 Grain Bin Safety campaign.

Among them on the Eastern Shore are the Marion Volunteer Fire Department in Somerset County, Linkwood-Salem VFC in Dorchester County and Easton VFD in Talbot County.

These stations were among the thousands of nominations received in the 2023 Nominate Your Fire Department Contest, annual component of Nationwide’s Grain Bin Safety advocacy campaign.

The National Education Center for Agricultural Safety, based out of Peosta, Iowa, delivered the rescue tubes and provided training to 60 fire departments and conducted re-training for six additional fire departments throughout 2023, traveling to each location with state-of-the-art grain entrapment simulators.