All in a day’s work

Here’s a feel-good story from the Ottawa Citizen called Beans over bravery: ‘Just doing our job’. It’s about why four men from the Ottawa region traded farm boots for red carpet time at Rideau Hall this morning.

Back in March of 2010, Andy King got buried in corn while working to fix a problem in a North Gower grain silo. As quoted in the Citizen by Chloé Fedio:

“I was kind of stuck in the corner to begin with when this avalanche started. It’s like running in big puffy snow. I stepped into an air pocket and all of a sudden I just went down,” King said.

King didn’t panic, but it was a tight situation. His co-workers didn’t panic either. At considerable risk to their own safety, they stabilized the scene, made sure King could breathe and studied what needed doing next. They called 911 and a roughly 6-hour fire/rescue operation ensued.

Firefighters came and tried to pull him out of the corn several times with no success. Finally, rescuers used plywood to build a box around King, to protect him from the corn. Afterward, a culvert pipe was placed around him. By 7 p.m. that night, King was free — a little stiff and hungry, but otherwise well, he said.

He went to work the next morning.

The Ottawa Sun reported on the incident with an article and a video back in 2010, which gives you a good sense of the size of these silos.

Co-workers Tim Leclair, Claude Lapierre, Dwight Foster and Jeff Lennox are scheduled to receive Medals of Bravery at a ceremony at Rideau Hall Friday morning. But as the Citizen article explains:

“Nobody is really talking about it,” King said Wednesday evening. “We’re talking about trying to get beans off the field in between the rain storms.”

Here’s to avoiding accidents – and knowing what to do when they happen.

Here’s to being smart and staying calm in the face of danger.

Here’s to everyday heroes who are all around us, busily doing what needs doing.

 

Tags: agriculture, Andy King, canada, Claude Lapierre, Dwight Foster, farm safety, Jeff Lennox, Tim Leclair