BARRON, Wis. (AP) - A Wisconsin sheriff's department says a father and son have died after getting trapped in a silo near Barron.
The Barron County Sheriff's Department said in a Sunday statement that 51-year-old Daniel Briel and 14-year-old David Briel were working inside the silo when an "internal collapse of silage" occurred.
"It hurts when it's a 14-year-old kid and a dad and how it tears one family apart," said Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald says Dan Briel and sons Caleb and David, well-known through their church and community, were inside one of the silos, chipping away at sticky, frozen silage that lined the walls.
"As they chip it away, it just happened that the whole circle of silage came down in one chunk rather than the chipping away at the chunks that they were and just crushed them. It was about eight to 10 feet high of silage on the edge of it, all came down on top of the three subjects. One of them got out," Fitzgerald said.
Just Caleb got out. He's 15 and made the 911 call. Rescuers desperately tried, using thermal imaging and extrication equipment to free the victims, but they died at the scene.
"We had two helicopters standing by to fly them out to trauma centers. But we couldn't … we couldn't save them," Fitzgerald said.
With the death of Dan and 14-year-old David; a wife, daughter and two other sons are left to grieve.
"Everybody liked them. Super nice family. And it just was a tragic event that's going to take some time for the community to heal," Fitzgerald said.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help the family with a funeral fund.