Nationwide has announced the winners of this year’s Nominate Your Fire Department Contest, held in conjunction with their Grain Bin Safety Week.

The Glenville Fire Department won an aluminum grain rescue tube and hands-on rescue training. A local presentation of the tube and training will took place Monday.

“For the second year, Nationwide is bringing awareness to agricultural safety issues through Grain Bin Safety Week,” said Nationwide Agribusiness President Brad Liggett. “Our hope is to increase education and drive awareness with our business partners and members to help protect and sustain the rural lifestyles associated with farming and commercial agribusiness industries. Together, we can identify and work to eliminate the hazards associated with these businesses to keep people safe.”

Grain Bin Safety Week is an annual observance dedicated to increasing awareness of grain bin safety on farms and in commercial grain handling facilities. Central to this year’s theme is the critical need for first responders to have access to the specialized rescue training and equipment they need if someone becomes engulfed in a grain bin.

When someone becomes trapped in a grain bin, it’s nearly impossible to pull the victim out without causing serious injury or death. Correctly using a grain bin rescue tube allows a first responder to use the tube panels like a shield so that the grain can be safely removed from around the victim.

“Being properly equipped and trained increases the odds for a success bin rescue. Without the proper tools, you’re just fighting yourself. Our new rescue tube is another tool to provide safety to our constituents,” said Wes Webb, Glenville mayor and fire department training officer.

“We have growing farm operations and numerous bins in and around our community,” Assistant Fire Chief Matt Webb added. “The tube we’ve won isn’t going to sit in the corner. We have a mutual aid agreement with 15 other departments. So when we hold our monthly meetings, we’ll share our new tube and what we’ve learned with others. And when the call goes out in another department, we’ll be there to help.”

The contest asked for nominations of first responders whose communities would benefit from winning a tube and training. It also asked them to describe how they’d share the tube and training information with nearby fire departments. This year’s contest generated a record 300 nominations from across the country.

Fire Chief Craig Rayman complemented the program and said the department was both very fortunate and very humbled to be chosen.

Nationwide, a Fortune 100 company based in Columbus, Ohio, is one of the largest and strongest diversified insurance and financial services organizations in the U.S. and is rated A+ by both A.M. Best and Standard & Poor’s. The company provides a full range of insurance and financial services, including auto, commercial, homeowners, farm and life insurance; public and private sector retirement plans, annuities and mutual funds; banking and mortgages; pet, motorcycle and boat insurance. For more information, visit www.nationwide.com.