Close Call to Story of Survival: How a Missouri Farmer Beat Death After Trapped In Grain Bin for 2.5 Hours
USFR-Close Calls Stories of Survival 8/12/22
December 5th, 2015 was a typical day on Dennis Schneider’s farm in Corder, Mo. He was working to get corn out of a grain bin, one that had been on his farm since the late 1970s.
“I had a little bit of mold on the top of the corn, and I thought, ‘Well, I’ll just get up there and watch it to make sure no big chunks go down into the auger and choke it up,’” remembers Schneider.
Emptying grain bins had been part of Schneider’s routine for decades, but getting in the bin was something Schneider knew was dangerous, so he had a backup plan just in case things went wrong.
“I had my younger son Dustin, standing by the auger switch,” he says. “I said, ‘If I'm not doing good, I have you on speed dial,’” says Schneider.
The Missouri farmer says everything was going okay, until it wasn’t.
“My leg started getting weaker and stuff, and so I thought, ‘Well, I’ll call Dustin, I already have it ready to call him, and I got a marketing text at that moment on the phone that I had to clear out first,” he says.
The Call
With one hand free, he cleared the text and made the call, all while he was sinking.
“And we never talked,” says Schneider. “He heard the phone ring, and he shut the auger off.”
In just a matter of seconds, Schneider was trapped in the grain bin. He had recently upgraded the auger at the bottom of the bin, one that was pulling out 60 pounds of corn a second. In the two seconds it took to clear the marketing text, that was enough time for the auger to pull him down, leaving Schneider buried up to his head. But Schneider’s son stepped into the bin to see what was wrong.
“When he got in, all that corn came off of that comb where he stepped in and he just buried me,” he adds. “He was able to, with his hands, get my head uncovered.”
By that time, it was 9:30 a.m., and Schneider’s son quickly called 911.
“That was one of the worst calls that had come in for quite a while,” remembers Jeff Buford who was the Alma Fire Protection Chief in 2015.
As Buford and another volunteer firefighter hopped in the truck to rush to Schneider’s farm, Buford discovered two other firefighters happened to be only about a mile away from Schneider’s farm at the time.
“As we were coming out, one of them was already on top telling us what we were going to need to do,” says Buford. “I prayed before we got the rescue started that 'You're going to have to help me' because we didn't have the training that we needed at the time.”
The 5-Gallon Bucket
Alma's fire department didn’t have the proper grain bin rescue equipment in 2015 either. Even without the right equipment or training, the two firefighters who arrived first noticed a 5-gallon bucket on top of the bin; something that proved to be crucial.
“There was an opening in it, and they put oxygen down through that opening, as well as just put it around me just to keep the corn from coming at me more,” Schneider recalls.
“On the way down, I did think, ‘Boy, this is going to be a tough way to go, because I could start to feel the pressure already on me.”
The pressure is something Schneider says is nearly indescribable.
“I figured out real quick that as I was breathing, I was kind of packing that corn in,” says Schneider.
As the seconds turned into minutes, and the minutes into hours, Schneider knew he had to stay calm. He’s always used the saying “panic is an option, not a requirement,” and on that December day, he did everything he could to not fight it.
“Well, I think you've seen examples of when there's a water rescue, they tell you let the rescuers do the work and take care of you, because so many people panic and fight them. I think this is similar,” adds Schneider.
Cutting Holes as a Relief Valve
As he stayed calm, Buford and the team outside quickly generated a plan to get the pressure off Schneider by cutting rectangular holes in the bin to drain the corn. After they cut the first hole, the corn slid behind him, nearly pushing him over. The firefighters then pivoted quickly, knowing they would need to cut even more holes in the bin.
“When we needed to close it, we just shut it. And then we would go to another one,” remembers Buford.
There had been no training to cut holes around the bin to act as a valve for the corn to be released. Buford says they just assessed the situation and searched for solutions to get the pressure off Schneider. They also called the local lumberyard to cut half-inch plywood, which the firefighters would place around Schneider.
How Dennis Escaped the Bin
After 2.5 hours of trying to rescue Schneider, he was finally free.
“This was all full of corn already so I just slid all the way out to the ground out here,” Schneider says standing in front of the bin where he’d been trapped.
There weren’t just a handful of volunteer firefighters and first responders that worked tirelessly to help rescue him, as he exited the grain bin, he saw there was an entire team.
“Firefighters alone, I would say there was probably 50 to 55 firefighters here, all volunteer,” says Buford.
Volunteer firefighters from the neighboring town of Concordia had also worked with Alma to craft the plan and then get Schneider out safely. Even sheriff deputies, neighboring farmers and other local business owners rushed to help as soon as word of Schneider’s situation had spread.
“The people were amazing,” says Buford. “This is probably a quarter to a half-mile driveway, and it was packed.”
Rescued for a Reason
The weeks after Schneider was rescued, Buford and others played back the situation countless times in their minds. Some even came back out to the farm to assess the situation.
“I don't think that we could have changed anything on this one,” says Buford. “I think everything turned out the way it was supposed to be.”
In a scary situation where so much could have gone wrong, that day everything just seemed to go right.
“They had to decide how deep I was, how low that hole had to be to free me up and they had that right,” says Schneider. “Neighbors brought loaders over, I had a skid loader close they used to push the corn out of the away, so it kept flowing.”
It wasn’t coincidence how much went right that day, according to Buford. He thinks Schneider survived to be able to share his story. And since that day, both have shared their story numerous times to local farmers and youth.
“When we were preparing for one meeting, I told my younger son Dustin, ‘Why don't you come along and you can correct my mistakes?’ And he said, ‘Dad, I’m trying to forget it.’”
Since that day, Alma also received a small community grant to help buy grain bin rescue equipment. Alma has also put the saying, "In God We Trust" on all their trucks, a reminder of what happened that day.
While some may try to forget, Buford and Schneider will forever remember December 5, 2015: a close call that’s now a story of survival.