The 2019 North Central South Mine Rescue Competition kicked off in Williams Lake on Thursday morning at the Williams Lake Fire Department hall.
Aaron Frost, the chief task judge for the zone competition, said he’s been helping to run the event for the last eight years. On Thursday they began by having workers from the northern mines compete against one another in a series of rescue scenarios including first aid and firefighting created by their counterparts from the southern mines, before switching in the afternoon.
“Ever mine in the province, under regulatory requirements, has to have a rescue team. These are trained personnel and the mines will put their top athletes in that group together and we all come together for a friendly competition,” Frost said.
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While there are some prizes, what the event is really about is providing a learning opportunity for mining personnel and promoting the brotherhood amongst miners, Frost said.
“Mining has really come a long way in the last 40 years. Mining used to be the most dangerous job in the world, to be honest, and mine rescue teams have really trained up. They’re first aid trained, rope rescue trained, know how to fight fires and deal with dangerous gases and these teams really work together to save lives,” Frost said. “Mining is really a safe industry now, they really look after their people, but there is always that inevitable chance that somebody may get hurt and these teams are highly trained in making sure those people are safe.”
Each team was graded on their performances in each of these four areas to determine who will move on to the provincial competitions this Saturday in the Stampede Grounds starting around 7 a.m.
patrick.davies@wltribune.com
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