Two off-duty volunteer firefighters died after falling into a fertilizer tank on an upstate New York ranch, one of whom tried to save the other, police said Friday.
Nathan Doody, 33, of DeRuyter, and Tyler Memory, 29, of Tully, were working their day jobs when they were overcome by toxic fumes emanating from inside the vessel, lost consciousness and fell into the tanker.
Police said one of the men was “attempting to retrieve equipment” that had fallen into the tanker at Champion Farms in Clinton, but lost consciousness and fell into the tanker.
When the other man tried to save the first man, he also lost consciousness and fell into the tanker. movie report.
Farm staff found the man unconscious inside the tanker and called 911. Paramedics transported him to a local hospital, where both men were pronounced dead.
It was not immediately clear which man fell first.
Memory is a third-generation firefighter who has worked for the Tully Joint Fire Department for 15 years, joining when he was 14, Deputy Chief Joe Nemier said. LocalSyr.com.
Doody first got involved 10 years ago, volunteering with the Cuyler Fire Department in Cortland County.
Nemie, who knew both men, said they both worked as fertilizer tanker drivers.
Located on 3,500 beautiful acres about 250 miles northwest of Manhattan, Champion Farm is a 10th generation beef and dairy farm that first opened in the early 1800s.
Fertilizer fumes are known to emit toxic gases that, in high concentrations, can be deadly to both humans and livestock, according to the National Agricultural Safety Database.
The most dangerous is hydrogen sulfide, which can cause headaches, nausea, dizziness and loss of consciousness.
If the concentration of hydrogen sulfide released from manure pits is high enough, it can kill a person with just one or two breaths.
Three Brothers from Ohio Died in 2021 after he was knocked unconscious by fumes while working to repair a pump in a manure storage pit on his family’s farm.
