Ready For Disaster Coeur Silver Valley Mine Rescue Team Heads To National Competition

Heat radiated off the mine’s rock walls.

Smoke obscured vision, and a cave-in blocked the way.

Three miners were trapped underground in a simulated fire. Coeur Silver Valley’s mine rescue team had an hour to find them and get them out.

Mine rescue competition is lifelike. It hones the skills of team members, who may someday pit knowledge and experience against the clock to save a fellow worker. “It’s like a real mine emergency,” said Bob McPhail, director of Central Mine Rescue. “You find out if a guy’s going to be able to take it.”

Coeur Silver Valley’s team placed first in a regional mining competition this spring. Next week, it will head to Las Vegas for the National Metal and Non-Metal Mine Rescue Contest, which takes place July 19-20.

The team’s eight members train about 150 hours per year. That’s a lot of volunteer time, but it’s worth it, said Dan Peterson, team captain.

“We’d all like to think, if we were trapped underground, someone would come and get us,” he said.

Organized mine rescue and training dates back to the 1920s in the Silver Valley.

After fatal accidents in the Hercules and Morning mines, mine owners banded together to form Central Mine Rescue. The organization owned a rail car stocked with rescue equipment that could be moved to different mine sites. Workers were trained in the same techniques so they could assist in disasters at other mines.

Central Mine Rescue still operates out of Osburn, but now encompasses eight mines from Nevada to Alaska. In the event of a large scale emergency, 140 trained rescue people could be called in to help, McPhail said.

Coeur Silver Valley has about two dozen trained rescue people at the Coeur and Galena mines, though only one team for competition.

The team placed eighth in the national competition in 1998, which members hope to improve on this year.

The team members have worked together for four years, developing trust and camaraderie. They look to Peterson or co-captain Curtis Hinsz for direction. Other members contribute expertise in emergency medical care, ventilation and map decoding. In addition, each team has a “bench man” responsible for cleaning and repairing emergency breathing apparatuses after use.

It’s vital to have confidence in your equipment, said Steve Knoll, a map man on the team.

A variety of skills are needed to deal with different emergency situations underground.

Keeping fresh air flowing to the site is often one of the trickiest challenges in emergency situations.

The Sunshine Mine fire of 1972, which claimed the lives of 91 miners, is the best-known disaster in the district. These days, the most common emergencies are small fires caused by electrical shortages or diesel equipment, McPhail said.

“We’d like to think that, with training and people more conscious of what could happen, we’re not going to have that type of situation again,” he said.

This sidebar appeared with the story: THE TEAM Roster

Coeur Silver Valley team members: Dan Peterson, Curtis Hinsz, David Gray, Mike Leeling, Tom Proschere, Matt Karst, Ernie Hoffman, Steve Knoll.

Chad Jefferson, a bench man from the Lucky Friday Mine, will also compete in Las Vegas for the Lucky Friday Mine.