Firefighters work to extricate a farmer from a grain bin May 21, 2024, near Salem.

SALEM — A man buried up to his chest in a grain bin was rescued by fire agency personnel and fellow farmworkers May 21 near Salem.

It took three hours of slow and deliberate maneuvers for the man to exit the bin safely.

Public safety workers tried rappelling into the silo to pull him out. But there was too much pressure, even with wood planks they used to “crib” the grain away from him.

“Eventually, the farm came up with a grain vacuum, which they used to pump out grain into a truck. Slowly, over time, that loosened the grain up around him,” said Capt. Cory Kottek, of Marion County Fire District No. 1.

“The assistance of the farm for sure helped us. … It was a team effort. That’s usually how it works out on farmland,” Kottek added.

The man was unharmed but transported to Salem Hospital for evaluation.

Salem Fire Department assisted at the scene with a specialty team trained for rescues using ropes.

The 9-1-1 call about the incident was received about 1:30 p.m. from the 5600 block of Silverton Road, just east of the Salem city limits.

First responders found the middle-aged male conscious and alert in the bin, but unable to free himself.

Kottek said the man was working inside the bin and trying to fix an auger that wasn’t functioning properly.

“It started sucking the grain down into the auger, which sucked him down into the grain,” he added.

Kottek said he believed a co-worker at the farm called 9-1-1. Kottek said it appears, though he wasn’t certain, that the man inside the bin was able to make it to a side hatch to yell for help. The auger is next to that door.

“He did have a rope on the inside that he used for safety purposes (and) he was holding onto to keep himself above grain level,” Kottek said.

Rescues involving grain bins are rare in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, and Kottek said this was his first experience.

“Normally, it’s catastrophic, so this was a good story to come out of it,” he added.