SARONA, Wis. -- A Washburn County, Wis., farmer was in good condition Tuesday after he was rescued a day earlier after spending several hours trapped in a corn bin.
Sheriff Terry Dryden said Jim Frey was attempting to dislodge the auger in a corn bin at his farm in Sarona Township at about 1 p.m. Monday when he became trapped. The bin was holding an estimated 50 semi-loads of corn and Frey was buried up to his neck in the corn.
Frey was conscious and was able to communicate with responders, Dryden said, but his legs were stuck under some steel pieces in the bin. Members of the Shell Lake Fire Department arrived on scene and began to cut holes in the sides of the bin, removing thousands of bushels of corn. Friends and neighbors helped shovel corn away from the bin, Dryden said, and the city of Shell Lake brought in a front end loader to do the heavy lifting.
Several hours later, Frey was safely removed from the corn bin. He was flown to a Twin Cities hospital. The sheriff credited First Responders who have trained for corn bin rescues.
