The Provincial Mine Rescue and First Aid Competition is now underway. Each year mine rescue teams from across British Columbia test their emergency response and rescue abilities in their surface or underground competitions.
Kimberley is hosting the event and today, June 8 marks the first day of zone tests while provincials will be held at Centennial Park on June 10. Both competitions begin at 6:30a.m., continue throughout the day and the public is invited to watch.
Captain of the Copper Mountain Mountain Mine Rescue, Frank Currier is excited about the event.
“I’ve been on the mine rescue team for about 10 years and this will be my fifth or sixth competition,” he said. “A lot of mines don’t go every year. I look forward to competing against other teams. It makes out team better to see how other teams deal with the scenarios. Your experience level goes through the roof watching the best of the best and how they solve the problems. Plus there’s lots of camaraderie. We’re all here on the front lines to help people. We do it because we love it.”
The intense competition involves the following areas in rescue and first aid:
Three Person First Aid
Demonstration of basic first aid in a simulated emergency
Surface Mine Rescue
Extrication
Rope
Practical Bench
First Aid
Written Exam
Underground Mine Rescue
Obstacle and Recovery
Donning Bench
Fire Fighting
Practical Bench
“All we know going in is the category of the task,” said Currier. “We know there is a bench test, rope or fire and smoke, but we know nothing about the scenario. We go in blind and do the best we can. It makes it interesting. Every team can look at a problem a little bit different.”
“People can watch the teams at both sites,” said James Sawicki, Senior Safety Coordinator at Copper Mountain. “We encourage everyone to come out to both. It’s really exciting.”
