Dominic Hoy had an important message for Alan Gordon, who was deep in an imaginary mine.
“Alan, listen carefully … it’s not fully sealed, so it’s possible we could blow their ventilation apart if we turn those fans on,” said Hoy, who was speaking with Gordon through 1,000 feet of communications chord.
The men were trying to extinguish an illusory fire as part of a training for the Kensington Mine Rescue team Wednesday at Sandy Beach. Sporting gas masks and tethered to a rope team, Gordon and six men slowly worked through grid made of fluorescent twine, resembling a post-apocalyptic ROTC unit.
The team uses airflow and careful communication to control mine fires. They can choke out blazes if they can cut the fire off from its air supply.
But both flames and humans draw oxygen; if the team makes the wrong move, they could end up suffocating a miner.
Hoy, sitting in front of a heavily-notated map of a hypothetical mine, checked with a higher up about turning on the fans, which they use to flush the mine of toxic gasses. Once he got the go-ahead, he passed the message to Gordon.
“OK Alan, the team below is fully sealed, they are ready for air,” he said.
The fire, like the mine, wasn’t real, but the training was serious business. Kensington’s three seven-man mine rescue crews train in these scenarios often, trying to stay sharp for the day their skills are called upon. The three teams work in shifts and train once every three weeks for 12 hours. Each team member also actively mines at Kensington.
Wednesday’s training was special. The group, composed of 10, included each of the three team captains. The team was preparing for the Central Mine Rescue competition in Kellogg, Idaho, next week. Greens Creek Mine will also send a crew to the competition.
Coaching from a “fresh air base” out of eyesight from co-captain Gordon and six other team members, team trainer Jeremy Whitmore explained that the competitions are like puzzles. The key to solving the puzzle: ventilation.
“If you can figure out the ventilation, you’ll solve the problem. The idea is, once you find the fire through systematically exploring the mine, you have to put up barricades on all sides of that fire,” Whitmore said.
After searching the mine and locating the fire, the team “regulates” a fire with tarps, leaving one corner of the tarp open. They can then close the tarps up completely, creating a bulkhead around the fire, cutting it off from its oxygen supply.
The teams are set up to deal with fire and medical emergencies. Each of the 21 members of Kensington’s Mine Rescue are Emergency Medical Technicians.
Because communication is key, Whitmore said the best crews are close-knit.
“If the team is not communicating with each other, it doesn’t work,” he said. “That’s the biggest part of any mine rescue, it’s communication, communication, communication.”
With 10 years experience, Gordon is the longest tenured team captain of the three crews. He started out his rescue career with Juneau Mountain Rescue, but couldn’t continue that commitment when he joined the Kensington crew.
He said continual drilling like this allows him to operate without thought.
“We train so much, it’s just like boom, boom, boom. I remember last year they had cow intestines, to make it realistic. I was just doing my thing,” Gordon said, snapping his fingers, “I didn’t even realize they were real.”
Kensington lost mine worker Joe Tagaban in 2011 to an underground accident. Whitmore said they haven’t had to deploy a full mine rescue team since.
• Contact reporter Kevin Gullufsen at 523-2228 or kevin.gullufsen@juneauempire.com.
Coeur’s Kensington Mine Rescue team discover evidence on their practice field at Savikko Park on Tuesday, May 2, 2017. The Kensington team and one from Hecla’s Green Creek Mine will compete next week at the Central Mine Rescue Competition in Kellogg, Idaho. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
Team trainer Jeremy Whitmore, center, gives members of Coeur’s Kensington Mine Rescue team an overvierw of their practice at Savikko Park on Tuesday, May 2, 2017. The Kensington team and one from Hecla’s Green Creek Mine will compete next week at the Central Mine Rescue Competition in Kellogg, Idaho. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
Eddie Petrie, right, checks the breathing mask of Mike Walters, Kelly Rickards, Jason Cameron and Alan Gordon, left, during Coeur’s Kensington Mine Rescue team’s practice at Savikko Park on Tuesday, May 2, 2017. The Kensington team and one from Hecla’s Green Creek Mine will compete next week at the Central Mine Rescue Competition in Kellogg, Idaho. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
Coeur’s Kensington Mine Rescue team Eddie Petrie, Mike Walters, Kelly Rickards, Jason Cameron and Alan Gordon, follow team trainer Jeremy Whitmore onto the practice field at Savikko Park on Tuesday, May 2, 2017. The Kensington team and one from Hecla’s Green Creek Mine will compete next week at the Central Mine Rescue Competition in Kellogg, Idaho. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
