A combine fire left Ron Wickenhauser with burns on his body
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
A Central Illinois farming community came together to help an injured friend finish harvest.
Ron Wickenhauser, a grain producer from near Wapella, Ill., had to be rushed to hospital after a fire broke out in his combine while harvesting soybeans Saturday.
It was windy, so the fire spread quickly.
“By the time he could get out, (the combine) was pretty much engulfed,” Ron’s son Robert told The Bloomington Pantagraph on Tuesday.
The fire destroyed the combine and about 20 acres of crops.
Ron’s grandson Austin helped his grandfather into a truck and drove him to Warner Hospital and Health Services in Clinton, Ill.
Doctors diagnosed Ron with first- and second-degree burns on about 15 percent of his body, The Pantagraph reported.
Wickenhauser left the hospital Sunday with about 150 acres of crops still to be harvested, or so he thought.
Upon arriving home, Wickenhauser saw a group of nearly 20 local farmers had brought their combines to help ensure his crops were harvested on time.
“When people come out to help you like that, you are just humbled,” Robert told The Pantagraph. “Nowadays, you don’t realize how good you have it. You think people don’t care, but they show you that the farming community around here sticks together.”
This community support isn’t surprising, said Ron’s wife Kathie.
“They just all showed up, took over and got it all done in one day,” she told The Pantagraph. “They are great people. Small communities are great. People don’t understand how wonderful they are. That wouldn’t have happened in a big city.”
Ron Wickenhauser's combine/Pantagraph photo