A 68-year-old Havre de Grace man got his arm caught in a silo grain auger Wednesday evening while working at the Mount Felix dairy farm in the 2000 block of Level Road in Havre de Grace.
James Jones Jr. was working with the silo grain auger when his shirt got caught in the auger?s spindle, pulling his arm into the mechanism, according to Rich Gardiner, spokesman for the Harford County Volunteer Fire and EMS Association.
“He was wearing a lot of shirts, and they [members of the Havre de Grace Ambulance Corps] had to cut through a lot of clothing before they were able to free his arm,” Gardiner said Thursday.
“It wasn’t life-threatening” said Trooper 1st Class Christopher Tappan of the Maryland State Police Bel Air Barrack.
Jones was flown via helicopter to the Union Memorial Hand Center in Baltimore for treatment. Jones suffered a puncture wound to his left arm and a broken bone, according to Debra Schlinder, spokesperson for Union Memorial Hospital. “He will regain the use of his arm,” Schlinder said.
Owned and operated by Harford County farmer David Keyes, Mount Felix produces dairy and cheese products. When contacted Thursday, a woman at Mount Felix, who did not wish to be identified, declined to comment on what had happened to Jones, saying she did not feel it would be “in his best interests.”
Accidents like this in Harford County, Gardiner said, “are very infrequent,” adding that at most, the county handles two calls a year for accidents related to farming.
Though he emphasized that Wednesday?s incident at Mount Felix did not fall into this category, Gardiner said in most cases, farm accidents are the result of farmers who seek to maximize the productivity of a piece of equipment by removing safety equipment.
