AUGUSTA (WQOW) — Emergency responders worked as a team, racing against the clock, at a farm just outside of Augusta to save a man stuck in a grain bin. It happened around three o’clock this afternoon. Three area fire departments rushed to help. Fire officials say they emptied the grain bin at the farm along County Road R, and the man was able to walk out on his own. He was taken to the hospital, but is expected to be okay.
“Anytime you enter a confined space, especially with a grain or any commodity type, it creates a funnel and a suction,” said Zach Buttke, a firefighter of the Augusta Bridge Creek Fire Department. “It essentially pulls your body down and can lead to being trapped, in which this was the case today.”
The August Bridge Creek fire chief says the farmer was buried to his chin, and his legs were straight as if he was standing up. He may have sunk beneath the corn if firefighters hadn’t worked as quickly as they did. Rescue crews used a rope to pull him to safety.
Curt Isakson is a 35 year veteran of the fire service. Curt is currently a Battalion Chief for Escambia County Fire Rescue. Previously worked 9 years with the Pensacola Fire Department where he was assigned as the Company Officer on Rescue 31. Curt’s fire service experiences started at a young age as a Junior firefighter with the Midway Fire Protection District and rose through the ranks to Captain. He has worked in volunteer, career, and combination departments.
Curt has held all ranks up to Battalion Chief and been assigned to operations, training, inspections, and was Chief of Special Operations for 7 years. Curt owns and operates County Fire Tactics that covers a very diverse range of fire service topics, as well as Firefighter Rescues, a site that documents rescues made by firefighters around the country.
He has annual contracts with numerous departments to provide standardized monthly training for these departments that respond daily together under an automatic aid agreement. Curt teaches nationally to include; FDIC, Firehouse Expo, Firehouse World, Orlando Fire Conference, Atlanta Fire Conference, Bowling Green State University, and owns/operates the annual HROC, COBC, WOTF, CFT ODP on Pensacola Beach. He is a Florida Certified Fire Officer, Instructor, Inspector, Arson, and FLUSAR.
