300 Rescue 36 Cows Trapped by Barn Collapse
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Photos by Kerry K. Rose
When 36 cows were trapped in a hayloft collapse, a rescue operation was conducted by more than 300 fire fighters, farmers, policemen, and women’s auxiliary members. The five-hour rescue effort involved 19 volunteer fire departments in the largest nonfire mutual aid response in the history of Onondaga and Madison Counties in New York State.
The rescue operation started when Onondaga County Fire Control dispatched the Kirkville Volunteer Fire Department at 9:40 a.m. Sunday, June 25, to investigate a barn collapse at the farm of Roy Miller and Roy Peterson at 8375 Green Lakes Road.
When Chief Ron Gross of Kirkville, a rural community of 1500 people, arrived, he found that the weight of nearly 3000 bales of recently cut hay had caused the loft to collapse. Through Onondaga Fire Control, Gross requested the response of the Manlius Fire Department for its Hurst Tool and the Dewitt Fire Department for its 10-ton jack and the shoring (4X8-foot, ½-inch sheets of plywood) stored in its station for loading onto its heavy rescue truck when needed.
More departments called
As Gross’s size-up continued, it was evident that more manpower was needed because the only way to get to the cows was by removing first the baled hay and then the fallen loft.
At 9:54 a.m., County Fire Control dispatched the Fayetteville and Minoa Fire Departments for manpower. The Onondaga County dispatcher then relayed a similar request to Madison County Fire Control, which sent the Chittenango and North Chittenango Fire Departments at 9:58. This brought to seven the number of fire departments thus far involved.
Next, a call was made to Dr. Fred Austin, a veterinarian, who arrived 25 minutes later. Onondaga County Fire Control called the Niagara Mohawk Power Company to cut electrical service to the barn.
A volunteer fireman offered the assistance of his employer, the T. H. Kinsella Trucking Company, which sent two large loaders. Neighboring farmers, alerted to the situation, came with additional hay wagons to assist volunteer firemen in removing the baled hay to other storage barns. A rigger, who lived nearby, offered his assistance and provided safety ropes to secure a hay bale elevator that had given way on one side above the rescuers.
Onondaga County Fire Coordinator Michael S. Waters, Madison County Fire Coordinator Robert Holdridge and their deputy coordinators also responded to the scene.
Rescue unit covers area
At 10:32 a.m., because the first five responding departments used their rescue vehicles to transport men and equipment to Kirkville, the eastern section of Onondaga County was stripped of heavy rescue vehicles. The Fast Syracuse Fire Department, which runs with two rescues, moved Rescue 1 to the centrally located Fayetteville Fire Station to cover the stripped area. The Pompey Hill Fire Department sent its rescue and cardiac equipment to the Manlius Fire Station as Manlius had its Rescue 1, with cardiac equipment, at the barn collapse.
Madison County dispatched the Canastota Fire Department at 10:34 a.m. to stand by at the Chittenango Fire Station. Canastota also sent several men to the barn collapse.
At Holdridge’s request, Madison County Fire Control at 11:58 a.m. made a general announcement, requesting any available manpower to report to Kirkville to relieve the first responding volunteers. With the temperature in the 80s, and the humidity high, these men were showing signs of exhaustion from moving the mountain of baled hay. Ten fire departments, Bridgeport, Oneida, Lincoln, Eaton, Munnsville, Wampsville, Morrisville, Cazenovia, Smithfield and New Woodstock, answered the call for assistance. This involved 300 firemen and 19 departments in the rescue operation.
Removal of hay
Most of the hay had to be removed through a large separation made at the north end of the barn before t he cows could be freed. Two holes were later cut in the roof as another means of removing the hay.
Shortly before noon, access to the loft was made and a chain saw and a Hurst Tool were brought into use. The chain saw was used to cut the loft into 3X5foot sections and also to cut through the 2X8 joists.
After the sections were cut around each cow, the Hurst Tool scissors attachment was used to cut the stanchions which had twisted over t he backs of 1 he cows. The neck chains holding the cows to the stanchions also had to be cut.
After each cow on the west side of the barn had been freed, if was slid onto a 4X8 sheet of plywood and hauled from the building with the help of tractors. Once outside, the animals were examined by the veterinarian. After the last cow on the west half of the barn was freed, work turned to the east side, where another 18 cows remained trapped, some by the weight of the loft and hay and others by a steel I beam in addition to the loft.
Section lifted by jacks
The cows clear of the I beam were extricated shortly after the remaining hay was thrown to the west side of the barn and the loft was cut. The cows pinned by the I beam were the last to be freed. A supporting column could not be cut and jacks were used to lift this section enough to free the cows from the beam.
The Hurst Tool was again used to cut the stanchions and the shoring was used to slide the last cow from the barn at 2:50 p.m., when the rescue operation was completed. Of the 36 cows trapped in the barn, seven died when the loft collapsed, seven more were put away within 24 hours, and the remaining 22 recovered.
During the entire rescue operation, the Manlius Fire Department had their brush truck with 200 gallons of water stand by with a 1-inch booster line while Kirkville and Dewitt had engines at the scene with a hydrant less than 300 feet away.
