To the Rescue: Mine Rescue Teams Compete
New Philadelphia Times Reporter
By Jon Baker
June 8, 2013
See Competition Photos
Thirty-five mine rescue teams confronted the same problem this week — how to rescue a trapped coal miner without causing harm to the miner or to themselves.
The exercise was one of the highlights of the 32nd annual Ohio Valley Mine Rescue Contest, held at the Jerry L. Stewart Ohio Mine Safety Training Center in the Cadiz Industrial Park.
The teams came from Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. In the past, as many as seven states have been represented.
Each team had 55 minutes to complete simulated mine rescues, all while taking into account such variables as air flow and the location of potential deadly gases.
“They have to rescue the miner and not kill the miner, not get themselves killed or blow up the mine,” said Craig Corder, mine safety manager with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mineral Resources Management.
The outdoor exercise took place in a grassy area behind the training center. A simulated mine was created using yellow tape to represent the walls of the mine. As a team moved through the corridors, it would find pieces of paper on the ground, describing conditions at that location in the mine.
Corder said the teams have the option of taking out a wall in the mine to complete the exercise. But they have to weigh the possibility that this action could release dangerous gases that could kill the trapped miner or spark an explosion.
The teams are very competitive. “They’re serious about winning trophies,” Corder said.
When the teams arrived Wednesday, they were placed in a lock-up section of the facility where they could have no contact with the outside world. No cellphones were allowed, to prevent someone from texting them about the problem they would face in the exercise.
|