PEORIA, Ill. — There was a scary hour Wednesday afternoon for a pair of Archer Daniels Midland employees, as they got trapped in a grain elevator.
Peoria Firefighter/Paramedics responded around 2:20 to the Edmund St. facility.
Battalion Chief Ralph Phillips said they spent the first 20 minutes upon arrival shutting off power to elevators.
“If you don’t shut power off to the car, and it moves while you’re trying to extract the trapped occupants, you can pinch somebody in half with one of those cars,” he said.
“The equipment was worn and rusted shut.”
Once power was off and the unit locked out/tagged out, crews eventually pried open the cage-style doors to free the people who were stuck just above the seventh floor.
The worn parts were deemed the cause of the incident.
No injuries were reported.
