Agriculture continues to be one of the most hazardous industries in the United States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the US Department of Labor. It is estimated that more than 80 percent of all accidents on a farm involve a tractor, and rollover accidents are the leading cause of tractor-related deaths.

Eighteen off-duty Derry firefighters and five additional firefighters from Londonderry, Fremont, New Boston, Laconia and Hanover recently participated in three days of agricultural rescue training held at J & F Farms in Derry in an effort to become more knowledgeable about these types of accidents.

This training allows departments to better serve their farm community by learning about heavy and farm machinery entrapments, impalements, and tractor rollovers. The tools and techniques taught are directly applicable to industrial machinery entrapments, impalements and entanglements, and accidents involving heavy construction equipment.

This successful training was done in partnership with UNH Cooperative Extension educators George Hamilton and Nada Haddad, with support from Phil Fernando and his family at J & F Farms in Derry, and the support of Commissioner of Agriculture Lorraine Merrill.

The program was developed and taught by Davis Hill of Penn State University, assisted by Penn State affiliated instructors of Jerry Jespersen, Irwin Hamm and Dave Oliver. These instructors have extensive practical experience dealing farming, and with farm, construction and industrial accidents. All practical scenarios were based on actual incidents. The training also met the technical rescue standards of the National Fire Protection Association.

As Hamilton noted, “Many tools and techniques used by rescuers when dealing with vehicle and transportation accidents don’t work with farm and construction equipment. Farm and construction equipment is much heavier. A tractor typically weighs seven tons, while a car may weight only two tons. So, first-responders and firefighters need to have hand-on practice in dealing with farm emergency.

To perform farm rescues, crews may have to rely on heavy wood cribbing and strut systems, picket systems, heavy chains and cables, rescue airbags for lifting, hand tools and impact wrenches to disassemble components, digging and air-operated jack hammers (sometimes it is easier to dig a person free than to lift a heavy tractor), exothermic torches to cut heavy metal components, and to a limited extent, hydraulic rescue tools.

Derry firefighter and Highland beef farmer, Steve Roberts, brought the idea of the training to the leadership at Derry Fire and then coordinated the training with Hamilton and Haddad. Roberts also coordinates the ROPS Grant Program for the NH Dept. of Agriculture. The ROPS program helps farmers retrofit their older tractors with “Roll-Over Protection Systems.”

The leadership at the Derry Fire Department knows that farms are an integral part of Derry and New Hampshire as a whole. There are over 450 farms in Rockingham County and they include large, commercial family farms such as J & F Farms in Derry, large commercial ornamental nurseries, and small part-time farms that are becoming more prevalent to support the “local food movement.”

New farm equipment is very expensive and most farms rely on equipment that may be generations old and lack the safeguards found on modern equipment. Many Derry homeowners are buying and renting medium duty tractors to work around their homes. They often don’t have experience and training, which puts them at risk for making a serious and life-threatening mistake.

(The courtesy photos above depict different aspects of the training.)