Emergency responders participate in gravel pit training exercise

By Kyle Kuphal | on June 01, 2023

A mannequin patient is lowered down from the concrete crusher after being freed from the machine by having a leg amputated. K. Kuphal

Several emergency response agencies and a couple local businesses participated in a full scale training exercise at a gravel pit west of Woodstock Tuesday morning, May 23.

Representatives of the Pipestone County Ambulance, Pipestone County Sheriff's Office, Holland Fire Department and First Responders, Woodstock Fire Department and First Responders, the Minnesota State Patrol, Avera Careflight, Pipestone County Medical Center (PCMC), Double D Gravel, Buffalo Ridge Concrete, the owner of the pit and others attended the exercise.

The training scenario involved a Double D Gravel employee, represented by a mannequin, who became trapped in a concrete crusher at the pit. Dispatch at the Pipestone County Sheriff's Office paged the participating agencies and Avera Careflight was arranged at 9 a.m. Local emergency responders went to the patient, who's leg was stuck in the crusher. They provided care on the crusher and contacted PCMC for simulated online direction and to request a surgeon at the scene.

Avera Careflight crew members load Dr. Thomas Chapa from Pipestone County Medical Center into a helicopter during the training exercise to demonstrate their process. K. Kuphal

A short time later, the Avera Careflight helicopter landed on a road that led into the pit and crew members were taken to the patient. The patient's leg was amputated on the crusher in order to free him from the machine and he was loaded onto an ambulance and taken to the waiting helicopter, which transported him to the hospital in Sioux Falls.

After the training exercise, the Avera Careflight crew provided information about safety around the helicopter and Jamie Dubbelde, owner of Double D Gravel, provided information about how to shut down the crusher in an emergency. Emergency responders also met at the scene to review the exercise.

Local emergency responders, employees of Double D Gravel and Buffalo Ridge Concrete, and others gathered at a gravel pit west of Woodstock Tuesday morning, May 23 for a training exercise involving an individual caught in a concrete crusher. K. Kuphal

"The entire goal was to plan for a variety of unlikely, but plausible scenarios in which we would work in collaboration with a variety of agencies for a successful outcome," said Casey Sievert, director of Pipestone County Emergency Medical Services and Emergency Management. "Everyone learned a lot about the machinery, injuries and necessary treatments, extrication from a confined space, communication between entities, and proper landing zone set up and etiquette for a scene flight. Overall, I think it went really well and everyone had some valuable takeaways from the exercise."