Local Fire Dept. in South Dakota Receives Life Saving Award

A small town fire department in Brule County, South Dakota is being recognized on a national level, thanks to the life-saving training it received.

In 2022, there were more grain bin fatalities and entrapments than any year in the past decade. Local fire departments across the country have begun training to ensure the safety of area farmers, including right here in South Dakota.

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To help make sure that these devastating accidents don't happen in the first place, Nationwide, along with its partners, has been providing life-saving grain rescue tubes to fire departments across the nation, including the all-volunteer department in Pukwana, South Dakota.

Thousands of nominations were received in the 2023 Nominate Your Fire Department Contest. 60 Departments across the U.S. were selected for this life-saving training and the Pukwana Fire Department was the lone selection in the state of South Dakota to obtain the grain tube and training this year.

“Grain bin accidents continue to be a critical issue facing the agriculture industry,” said Brad Liggett, president of Agribusiness at Nationwide. “We are proud to have supplied these important resources to 60 more rural fire departments in partnership with the many sponsors involved in our grain bin safety efforts. However, the work will not be complete until we can put a stop to these needless accidents altogether. Thank you to the first responders who play such an important role in supporting the agriculture community.”

-Nationwide Press Release

The Pukwana Fire Department consists of 25 members, all of whom are volunteers at the fire station.

To read more about the contest and discover what other fire departments across the country received these grain tubes, check out the article from Nationwide.

Story Sources: Dakota News Now Website, Nationwide Website