Boy overcome by deadly fumes as he checked silo at family farm near Roseville

ROSEVILLE

Mike Perrin and his younger brother had a dream that one day, they would run their family's dairy farm together.

"He would take the morning shift and I'd take the night shift," said the 16-year-old yesterday.

That dream faded Saturday when 14-year-old David Perrin was overcome by nitrogen dioxide fumes at the top of a 20-metre silo.

The teen was checking the silo to see how full it was when the lethal gas overwhelmed him and he fell in, said Sgt. Frank Monteiro of Waterloo Regional Police. The teen was pronounced dead at the scene.

The silo had been filled Friday night, Mike said. By the time David climbed up, the silage -- ground-up corn used to feed cattle -- had settled, and there was about two metres of room at the top.

"He was Dad's main helper. That's why he went up the silo," he said. "He just did it to be helpful."

Emergency crews were called shortly after noon to the farm on Roseville Road, just east of the village of Roseville in North Dumfries Township.

David had said he wanted to check the silage, Mike said. The family told him to let them know before he went, but he quietly slipped out of the house around 10 a.m.

It was noon before his father, Paul, found him.

"When he opened the hatch, the gas may have took him, or he looked in too far," Mike said.

An autopsy confirmed he died of suffocation, his mother, Mary Lou, said yesterday.

As rescue crews extended a ladder alongside one of four silos Saturday, an air ambulance sat parked in the field.

It took almost four hours for firefighters to lift out David's body.

"The fire department has to be very careful with how they go in because they're dealing with the silage gas," Monteiro said. "It overcomes you very quick."

Nitrogen dioxide, the gas produced by newly harvested silage, is undetectable because it is odourless and tasteless, said Steve Matisz of the Farm Safety Association in Guelph.

As the dense silage settles, the gas rises to the top. "Once inside the silo, if the gas is really heavy, it will basically just absorb the oxygen from the person's body," Matisz said.

There have been five or six incidents in southwestern Ontario this year of farmers being exposed to nitrogen dioxide -- more than usual, Matisz said.

The lack of sunshine and extra rain this summer has trapped more nitrogen in the plants. "It starts being produced as soon as (the corn) is chopped up and it'll start to accumulate within an hour, even in the wagons," he said.

David had just started Grade 9 at Southwood Secondary School in Cambridge.

He had played hockey in nearby Ayr since he was four. He decided not to play this year.

He was a dedicated member of the 4-H club, and was going to show his dairy calf at the Rockton Fall Fair Thanksgiving weekend.

But David was in his element helping his father on their farm. He would rise early on weekends to help milk the cows, and readily hopped on a tractor to haul crops.

"He was Daddy's right-hand man," said his tearful mother yesterday afternoon in the family's cosy kitchen. She had just got off the phone with a woman from the Roseville United Brethren Church, who was setting up a schedule to bring meals to the Perrins.

"He was a great help on the farm. His dad really depended on him."

As they make funeral arrangements this week, the family has to keep the farm running, milking the cows morning and night.

Friends remembered David as a hardworking guy who spent most of his free time helping his father.

"It doesn't matter if it was school, or trying to work as hard as he could on the farm, or trying to make friends -- he'd never give up," said Duncan Pratt, 14, of Ayr.

"He laughed a lot," said Charlie Loree, 14, who also lives on a farm.

"We used to joke around about who worked harder," he said. "We'd just fool around, push each other around, have fun."

In Grade 8, David won the Optimist Club award for his compassion, Loree said.

"He was always happy. He always had a smile on his face," said Chase Wallace, 14.

David is survived by two brothers, Mike, 16, and Gregory, 10, and his parents, Mary Lou and Paul.

A funeral will be held at the Kipp Funeral Home in Ayr at 11 a.m. Thursday. Visitation is tomorrow from 7 to 9 p.m. and Wednesday from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m.

arobinson@therecord.com