Steven T. Boesl died attempting to save Alex P. Boesl and Curtis F. Boesl from suffocation, Brandon, Minnesota, December 21, 2019. On their family farm, Alex, 11, and his father, Curtis, 47, were unresponsive inside an oxygen-limiting silo containing silage that released toxic silo gas. Alex and Curtis were about 7 feet below the narrow opening at the top of the silo, which had no interior ladder or lighting. Alex’s brother called 911, then called Boesl, 49, farmer, who was Alex’s uncle and Curtis’s brother, and lived nearby. Arriving after the fire chief, who did not have a self-contained breathing apparatus, Boesl climbed the silo ladder to the top and entered the silo’s opening despite not wearing any protective gear. Boesl shortly collapsed and stopped moving. A fire captain who responded later, wearing a breathing tank and attached to a rope, entered the silo and lifted Boesl, Alex, and Curtis to others at the silo opening, who fully removed all three then pulled him out of the silo. Firefighters lowered Boesl, Alex, and Curtis to the ground. Curtis and Alex were flown to hospitals; Curtis died the following day and Alex died six days after the accident. Boesl remained unresponsive, having succumbed from inhaling silo gas.
90933 – 10221
90933-10221