A farm worker suffered burns from anhydrous ammonia Monday afternoon while applying the fertilizer on farm ground of Perry.
The incident occurred shortly after 5 p.m. in the 500 block of 320th Street north of Perry in Boone County, where a hose failure caused the worker to be sprayed with pressurized anhydrous ammonia at about -25° Fahrenheit.
The victim’s coworker was able to get the victim to a nearby horse tank and into the water prior to the arrival of the Dallas County EMS.
Anhydrous ammonia causes serious and sometimes fatal chemical burns.
“When I got home, there was a man standing in front of the horse shed,” said the owner of the horse tank. “Inside the horse shed was another man in the horse waterer. He had been sprayed by an anhydrous hose with somewhere around 150 psi.”
The victim was transported from the scene about 6 p.m. by Mercy One air ambulance.
“I received a text this morning,” said the owner of the horse tank, “that all the burns were superficial. No organ damage. And he was released from the burn unit in Iowa City early this morning.”
The Perry First Responders and Perry Volunteer Fire Department also responded.
