Rescuers Play Mine Games Teams Dig In For Annual Mine Rescue Competition

The Australian rescue team had only been in Launhardt’s Dream Mine a few moments when it was faced with its first surprise.

“Help me, mates! Help me,” cried a young miner, Jory Bisaro, who stumbled up the shaft toward them, collapsing at their feet.

“That rattles them big time,” chuckled Paul Sala, who watched from outside the shaft.

“They’re doing it right. They’re going to pack him out,” he added as the men grabbed Bisaro’s arms and legs and hauled him toward the entrance.

The team from Down Under was to be faced with several more challenges in the next hour, including two fires - one burning out of control - piles of gravel to dig through, and two trapped miners at the far end of the labyrinthine mine.

The Australian team was competing against two Idaho teams, a Nevada team and a Washington team in the 14th annual Central Mine Rescue competition in Osburn Saturday.

Each team had 55 minutes to rescue the miners, contain the fires and get their fellow team members out alive.

It’s a “thinking man’s” competition, where bad decisions cost time and points. In an actual rescue, the wrong decision could cost a life.

Members of Central Mine Rescue, an organization of Silver Valley mining companies, spent two days building the elaborate mine set in Gene Day Park. The shaft included an actual portion of an old mine shaft already in the park.

They added lengths of tunnel from wood frames and brattice cloth. They placed phones at strategic locations and wired them to a tarp-and-plastic mine office, where a team member tracked their progress on a map and communicated with the “mine manager.”

They used piles of Styrofoam to simulate a pile of rocks in a bad portion of tunnel.

Strips of black plastic hanging from the slats overhead indicated smoke.

There was plenty of real smoke, however, from a trough of fuel-soaked burlap that blocked the rescue teams’ way.

Another barrel of burlap burned to simulate an electrical fire.

The flames and the fire extinguisher were real enough to keep the small crowd of spectators at a respectable distance.

The teams also had to negotiate two large piles of gravel while carrying a stretcher filled with more than 100 pounds of equipment.

Each man wore a heavy breathing apparatus designed to provide oxygen for four hours.

In a separate competition, rescue team technicians had to troubleshoot and fix a malfunctioning breathing apparatus.

The men wore coveralls and hard hats with horns for communicating. Their headlamps were on.

When members of the Lucky Friday Mine team pulled off their masks and hard hats after their turn in the Dream Mine, their faces glistened with sweat.

“I must have 50 rocks in my shoe,” said Terry Devoe, as he emptied a small pile of gravel into his palm.

“I had 33 seconds left,” said team captain Glen Black.

“I was watching the watch the whole time.”

Central Mine Rescue trainer Bob McPhail said competitions like the one on Saturday are about the closest rescue teams can get to the real thing.

“It puts them under stress,” he said, glancing at the stopwatch around his neck.

“These guys didn’t sleep last night.”

The rescue competitions started after the Sunshine Mine disaster in 1972, which killed 91 mine workers.

They provide rescue workers an opportunity to hone their skills and review techniques.

“Mine rescue before and after the fire was totally different,” said Bob Launhardt, a retired miner who did rescue work since 1955.

“Most people in hardrock mining didn’t believe you could have a big fire like that.

“The training was very superficial compared to what it is now.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Color photo