Baralaba emergency services Everyday Hero Award finalists for silo rescue

In a terrifying accident in a grain silo a Queensland farmer was drowning in wheat like quicksand, communicating only with blinks as a community banded together to save his life.

Baralaba farmer John Lawson could no longer speak and he could barely breathe as the grain swallowing him like quicksand filled his mouth in the silo that was heating up like a pressure cooker.

After 40 minutes fearing the worst as the grain pressed upon him from all sides, the 78-year-old could only blink his overwhelming thanks as two heroes in blue finally scrambled into the capsule he was trapped in.

“We ripped in to do what we could to help him out,” Baralaba Police Station Officer in Charge Sergeant Wylie Steel said.

“We could tell he was in a world of hurt, in grain basically up to his eyes, so we got up there and started digging around so he could breathe.

“He was in a bit of a pickle.”

He and fellow officer, Constable Callam Moriarty, grabbed a bit of PVC pipe and Sgt Steel stuck his fingers in John’s mouth to try and scoop out the grain so he could breathe properly.

“I was hot and did what was in front of me,” Sgt Steel said.

OIC at Baralaba Ambulance Station Vaughan Mason, Constable Callam Moriarty and OIC at Baralaba Police Station Sergeant Wylie Steel. Picture: Aden Stokes

The officers climbed into the silo to rescue John using a tarp and a ladder to stop them from sinking.

Baralaba Ambulance Station Officer in Charge Vaughan Mason clambered in after them to help rescue John, who he knows well from John‘s 22 years on the Local Ambulance Committee.

“We had to communicate with direct question, and he responded by blinking,” he said.

The three first responders stabilised John as much as they could and used a four-wheel drive snatch strap to suspend him so he would not sink any further.

Mr Mason said there was a lot of risk involved with the rescue.

He explained in the immediate aftermath that grain was very, very heavy and John was encapsulated for about 35 to 40 minutes before they were able to free him.

INSIDE THE SILO: “... I WASN’T GOING TO CARK IT”

John remembers one of the officers reassuring him and putting their hand on his shoulder, saying “We’re going to get you out!”.

“Vaughan took a few tests on me to make sure I wasn’t going to cark it,” John said.

“It was bloody hot in there.”

Buried up to their chests, the three first responders were taking away as much grain as they could, digging around Mr Lawson and communicating with the group outside.

People on the ground, including a retired ex-fire captain, cut holes in the side of the silo to release the grain.

Const Moriarty said at least six tonnes of grain was emptied from the silo and Mr Lawson was able to be extricated through the side.

John was freed from the silo just before 1.30pm.

Google Maps image pointing out Baralaba.

THE FRANTIC TRIPLE-0 CALL

The officers were out doing patrols in the tight-knit Central Queensland town of 300 when the call came in just after midday on February 23 that a person was stuck in a silo at the farm about 5km out of town on Moura Baralaba Rd.

Const Moriarty had only been in Baralaba for about five months and this was his first major job in the town.

John said it started out like every other time he loaded a truck with grain when he shared his remarkable story of survival while recovering in a Rockhampton Hospital bed in February.

Until the grain stopped running out and his normal attempts to unblock it from below did not work.

So, he climbed into the silo and gave the centre a push with a big pipe.

Unlike the other times, it all collapsed and set solid, holding him down.

Sgt Steel said because the grain had been made wet, it formed a false surface.

“The false surface had collapsed around him,” he said.

“Although there was a danger to it, he has probably done it a thousand times before and it hasn’t turned out badly.

“This one occasion was just a perfect storm and it turned out bad.”

John said he held onto a tarpaulin on the silo with all of his might.

“Thankfully, when the truck filled and the auger was switched off the driver heard me yelling, so he was calling out to his partner in the truck to call Triple-0,” he explained while in hospital.

Baralaba farmer John Lawson in hospital after his close call stuck in a silo.

THE RESCUE MISSION BEGINS

“We were basically in the middle of nowhere, so we called for help from the local auxiliary firefighters, Baralaba Coalmine’s emergency response team, police detectives from Woorabinda, other emergency services, civilians and local farmers, and the ‘bush telegraph’ worked overtime to help us too,” Sgt Steel said.

“We weren’t going to lose him straight away, which is what it looked like to start off with.”

So, the community quickly rallied to help save John.

“It took a whole community to help this bloke out, and some of those people travelled from 100 km away,“ Sgt Steel.

Mr Mason said when he arrived there were more than 20 people.

“The community came together with a clear task of what we needed to achieve, and the jubilation of getting out of the silo was something I had never been in before,“ he said.

The silo Baralaba farmer John Lawson was trapped in. Picture: Contributed

FRONTLINE HEROES HONOURED

Sgt Steel, Const Moriarty and Mr Mason have been nominated as joint finalists in the QBANK Everyday Hero Award teamwork category.

Mr Mason said the group was humbled to be named finalists in the awards.

“We’re all so ecstatic about the recognition, and hats off to everyone, even those outside, because it was just such an amazing effort,” he said.

“Unfortunately, with grain those situations usually don’t have such a great result.”

Const Moriarty said it was a very humbling experience to be nominated.

Sgt Steel said the community effort deserved to be celebrated.

“We wouldn’t have been able to get the job done without the support from those people on the ground,” he said.

“It’s great to see the whole community recognised for their work in this particular incident.

“It was a pretty high stress situation and an exhausting effort, but everyone was so relieved and happy.

“When I went home that night I said to my wife, ‘I think I have found a home’, because it was just everybody pulled together.”

The 2023 Everyday Heroes Award winners will be announced at the annual awards dinner at the W Hotel Brisbane on October 27.

NEW PLAN FOR ANY FUTURE PROBLEMS

John said he did accidentally leave something behind in the silo that might confuse some hungry chickens - a hearing aid.

He decided if he ever has the same problem, he will not be climbing in again.

“I’ll be getting a crane next time, I won’t be getting in I can tell you,” John said.