Virginia Mining Institute holds competition to sharpen skills in real life situations
BLACKSBURG, Va. – First Responders in the coal mining industry are proving who is best regarding life-saving skills.
The Virginia Mining Institute held a competition in the New River Valley with eight different mining agencies from Southwest Virginia.
The competition consists of multiple groups of men working to save lives in a mine.
“It was a good problem,” Sidney Crabtree, a team member with Virginia Energy, said.
Crabtree said this was one tough competition.
“The problem they put out for us is always challenging. There were a lot of ventilation changes and things you would do in a mine underground,” Crabtree said.
Participants compete for three days sharpening and honing their skills with mine rescue operations or CPR in case of an absolute life disaster.
“They involve bad roof, toxic gases mixtures things of that sort,” Chris Whitt, a team member focused on training, said.
Whitt said the incident with the Giles County mine collapse in June was better suited for the fire department because it was an equipment accident, but mining crews would have gone if there was toxic gas.
“Had it come, we would have been working with the fire department,” Whitt said.
Crews at the competition had about two hours to rescue people in distress and effectively communicate with the team.
