Two firefighters left dead after falling into a manure tanker at cattle farm

15 June 2024 , 11:06

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Champion's Farm has been open since the early 1800s (Image: WCSC)

Two off-duty New York firefighters tragically died after falling into a manure tanker on a cattle farm, authorities said.

Tyler Memory, 29, of Tully and Nathan Doody, 33, of DeRuyter both passed on Thursday (June 13) while driving manure trucks at Champion Farms - their day jobs when off-duty from their respective fire departments. One of the men is reported to have fallen in first, while the other fell in while trying to rescue him.

It is believed that they were overpowered by the toxic fumes being emitted from the tanker, after one of the men had attempted to retrieve a “piece of equipment that had fallen into the tanker” before he passed out and fell inside. It is not currently clear which of the men fell in first.

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Tyler Memory had been a firefighter since he was 14 years old (Facebook)

Nathan Doody volunteered at Cuyler Fire Department for 10 years (Facebook)

Investigators say that while the second man was attempting to rescue his colleague, he fell unconscious before dropping in. The men were discovered by their colleagues at the farm, unconscious in the tanker, before authorities were called out at 11am. The farm is in Kirkland, New York, less than 50 miles (80km) east of Syracuse, New York.

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Two air ambulances were immediately sent to the scene of the incident with Clinton Fire Department, Mercy Flight and COVAC Ambulance all distributed to New York to rescue and treat the two men. They were taken straight to Wynn Hospital in Utica - but tragically passed away later that day, the Daily Mail reported.

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According to the Farm Safety Association, decomposing manure can produce multiple gases including methane, ammonia and carbon dioxide - which can be deadly in high concentrations. It adds: “Toxic or poisonous reactions in people or animals, oxygen depletion which can result in asphyxiation and explosions that can occur when oxygen mixes with the gases such as methane. Hydrogen sulphide is considered the most dangerous of the by-products of manure decomposition.”

Tyler Memory, 29, was working with his colleague, Nathan, at Champions Farm when he passed away (Facebook)

Memory was a third-generation firefighter and had been working with the Tully Joint Fire Department for 15 years, having joined when he was just 14 years old, according to Assistant Chief Joe Nemier. Doody was a volunteer at the Cuyler Fire Department in Cortland County, which he had been part of for 10 years.

The fire departments at which the two young men worked, along with two families, are now grieving at the tragic and unfortunate loss of two men who gave much to their community. This included their work at Champions Farm, a beef and dairy farm founded in the early 1800s in Clinton, 250 miles northwest of Manhattan.

This is not the first such case of manure causing death. In 2016, a farmer and 13 cows died after being overcome by methane or sulphur oxide in a large manure holding tank, according to the BBC. In Iowa, a father and son also died as a result of toxic fumes from a hog manure pit.

Alex Croft