The pressure of so much grain on the human body often results in suffocation, death.


IOWA FALLS, Iowa — Arick Baker had accepted that he would die inside a grain bin.

When Baker became trapped last week in north-central Iowa, history was against his survival. From 1964 to 2005, 74% of reported grain entrapments resulted in fatalities, according to a report from Purdue University. In the most recent years studied, survival rates improved but only modestly.

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Baker, a 23-year-old who lives in New Providence, Iowa, and farms in the area, went down June 26 into a 80,000-bushel grain bin in rural Hardin County to remove some rotten corn, unplugging a hole so corn could pass through.



No one was around to help. Baker's father and a truck driver already had left, and he had no idea when they would return. Baker was alone, struggling to breathe with 450 pounds of grain pushing against his chest.


Baker's heart rate was also dangerously high. Doctors told Baker his heart was beating 173 times per minute, or 90% of his maximum, when they rescued him.



Shock lasted about 5 minutes, Baker said, as he tried to grasp what had happened.




Baker credits his survival to the ventilation mask he was wearing. The mask doesn't make oxygen, but it filters air dirty from dust and mold.


"It saved my life," Baker said. "Without that helmet, I would have been dead in less than 3 minutes."

Specialized training pays off for crew



At 12:18 p.m., Iowa Falls emergency dispatchers received a call that someone was trapped in a bin near Owasa, Iowa, about 80 miles northwest of Des Moines, said Gustin, the fire chief.



"We definitely have a need to keep people safe who are going into the grain bins," Eslick said Jerry Eslick, who started Professional Rescue Innovations in 1998 to help train emergency rescue agencies for situations such as grain elevator entrapments. "If they do get into trouble situations, we need ways to get them out."

One of the challenges with grain entrapment rescues is getting to the victims, he said. Even getting into a bin, let alone finding and removing a victim, can be difficult.

One hundred to 120 people responded for Baker's rescue, Gustin said. Twenty-four came emergency agencies; some community members volunteered, too.



Protective tube placed around Baker


Baker said he was drifting in and out of consciousness. He woke up after hearing a firefighter's radio go off. He started yelling.








Responders dug for hours. The high in Mason City, an hour north, on June 26 was 88 degrees. Authorities said workers probably experienced peaks closer to 120 degrees.



Would he enter a bin again? Yes, he's a farmer

After about three hours of digging, firefighters removed Baker.

He was taken immediately by helicopter to Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo, Iowa.





Baker said he was grateful for everything his rescuers did.


Baker said the whole thing still seems surreal: He said it feels as if he "read a really good book."




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