Volunteers rally to help family of worker burned in grain elevator fire

Harvest is a very stressful time for Manitoba’s farming communities, even without a family member in the hospital.

31-year-old Brodie Richardson was hurt while working at the grain elevator in Crystal City that caught fire on Monday, suffering second-degree burns on his hands.

He’s been recovering at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg with his family at his side.

That prompted a volunteer effort from area farmers who got together to help out the family and harvest their wheat crop.

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WATCH: Hundreds evacuated after massive fire in downtown Brandon, Manitoba

2:36 Hundreds evacuated and crews still working on massive fire in downtown Brandon, Manitoba

Don Green, farmer and friend of Ricardson’s family, told Global News the family is very thankful and the response for volunteers was so strong they had to turn people away.

“Farmers are quite independent minded. We don’t want to impose on others, because we realize everyone else is busy too. However, it’s so easy to give up an afternoon out of harvest to help someone else in a situation like this. They would do the same, without hesitation.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Farmers are quite independent minded. We don't want to impose on others, because we realize everyone else is busy too. However, it's so easy to give up an afternoon out of harvest to help someone else in a situation like this. They would do the same, without hesitation."

“They didn’t ask for help. It’s daunting to get your harvest off in time, never mind with someone in the hospital. It’s very stressful and harvest is crazy stressful. So, we kind of just said we’ve got this crew lined-up, they’re all ready to come. You really have no choice, we’re going to do it for you,” said Green.

Green added about 10 combines and more than 20 people got together and did what would have been five days of work for the family in about three hours.