Two weeks into his captaincy, Zane Neal led a relatively inexperienced Elkview mine rescue team to victory May 13 at the 96th annual East Kootenay Zone Mine Rescue and First Aid competition.
“Today we got lucky and that’s all we can ask for in rescue,” said Neal after the news was announced at a gala mine rescue banquet held Saturday night at the Fernie Community Centre.
It is Neal’s fifth year as a mine rescuer and most of his teammates only have one or two years experience.
“As a competing team that’s not a lot,” he said. “Bringing such a green team into this competition, it was just a testament to the work all the guys put in.”
Neal assumed the captaincy of Elkview’s mine rescue team two weeks before Saturday’s event after the previous captain Steve Kallies bowed out because of prior commitments.
When Kallies was vice-captain, Elkview went on to win the National Western Regional Mine Rescue Competition in 2015.
“I’ve got big boots to fill,” said Neal.
The Greenhills mine rescue team settled for second place but its three-person first aid team won its competition ahead of runner up Coal Mountain.
The four qualifying teams will proceed to the B.C. Provincial Mine Rescue Competition to be held in Kimberley on June 10 where they’ll compete for a spot in the National Western Regional Mine Rescue Competition, which will be held in Fernie on September 8 and 9.
Saturday’s competition was held at different locations in Sparwood. The annual event is organized by East Kootenay Mines Industrial Safety Association (EKMISA), and Coal Mountain Operations was this year’s host mine.
The competition pitted six-person mine rescue teams and three-person first aid teams from all five of Teck Coal’s Elk Valley mines against a host of mock accidents. The teams were evaluated on their firefighting skills, first aid response, use of emergency equipment and decision-making ability under stress. Each team passed by the miners’ memorial in Centennial Square, observed a minute of silence and laid a wreath in honour of those who have lost their lives mining coal.
The mine rescue teams were judged on how they would deal with five skill challenges — first aid, fire, bench, rope and a motor vehicle accident.
The firefighting task held in the Causeway Bay parking lot was a typical scenario. Competitors were confronted with a hypothetical accident where a number of passengers were trapped in a bus after a rear-end collision.
Smoke was used to simulate a fire and competitors had to use hoses to put it out. They were then tasked with securing the vehicle’s batteries to make sure the fire would not spread before rescuing the victims and providing them medical support.
Each team had 35 minutes to complete the task.
The three-person first aid teams were also confronted with hypothetical emergencies. One of them challenged rescuers to help three injured victims of a motor vehicle accident.
Over 50 volunteers, including volunteer victims who helped make the scenarios more realistic for the teams and spectators, helped make the event a success.
Chief Judge Tamarra Pryhitko explained the competition allows the community to see how mine rescue teams work.
“Every day they put their lives on the line,” she said. “So it’s nice to bring it down from the mountain to show our friends and family what it’s all about.”