More than 20 mine rescue teams from across Ontario, including Sudbury and Onaping districts, will test their emergency response knowledge and skills in seven district mine rescue competitions May 11 to 13.
Five teams and equipment technicians from the Sudbury and Onaping districts will compete at the Jim Coady Memorial Arena in Levack.
Representing the Sudbury District are Vale West Mines, Vale East Mines, KGHM, and Glencore Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations.
Also competing for the first time will be a team from Laurentian University’s Student Mine Rescue Club.
The competition, organized by Ontario Mine Rescue, a part of Workplace Safety North, will test the teams’ knowledge, firefighting skills, first aid response, use of emergency equipment, and decision-making ability under stress in a simulated underground emergency.
The public are welcome to attend district and provincial competitions to give communities a chance to see highly trained volunteers in action. Other competitions will take place in the Southern District, at the Goderich Memorial Arena, Goderich; the Thunder Bay/Algoma and Red Lake districts, at the Delaney Arena in Thunder Bay; and the Timmins and Kirkland Lake districts, at the Archie Dillon Sportsplex in Timmins.
The winner of each district competition will compete in the 2016 Provincial Competition, June 9 and 10, at the NORCAT Underground Centre (the former Fecunis Mine) in Levack.
The winner of the provincial competition will have the opportunity to represent Ontario and Canada at the International Mines Rescue Competition 2016 – Canada in Sudbury this August.
