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Diavik rescue team take the win Third consecutive win for NWT mine at the National Western Region Mine Rescue Competition
Lyndsay Herman
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, September 18, 2013
SOMBA K'E/YELLOKNIFE
For the third year in the a row, the Diavik mine rescue team walked away with first place in the National Western Region Mine Rescue Competition's underground event.
The Diavik Mines Inc.'s mine rescue team won the National Western Region Mine Rescue Competition, which took place in Fernie, BC, in September. - photo courtesy Henry Georgi/Teck Coal
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"We're definitely excited with all this. It was unexpected. You never know who is going to win in the end," said team captain Nathan Pitre. "You win a couple events, that doesn't mean you're going to win. Hard work and consistency paid off, I guess."
The team placed first in the smoke event, which requires the team to solve a problem or preform a rescue in smokey conditions, and the written tests in addition to winning the overall underground title.
The Diavik team was up against eight other teams from other mines in the NWT, Nunavut, British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, the Yukon, and the north-western United States.
Contrary to competitions in other sectors, the mine rescue competitors are in the unique situation of benefiting from each other's success.
"The competitions started to show that your mine rescue teams were actually practising and to show that you were meeting a certain requirement with regard to training," Pitre said.
"It's a bit to show all our skills and it shows the other teams who are for the most part what we call our mutual aid partners. So if we get into trouble, they're going to come and help us. It shows them that we are training and meeting a standard."
The standard for the thrice-winning Diavik team is a weekly 12-hour practice day, with the expectation that all members, who are volunteers, attend one 12-hour practice during their two week rotation at the mine site.
Prior to competition, the eight-person competition team, selected from the approximately 60-person mine rescue team, practices for 10 consecutive days.
With an eye to the team's true purpose, the Diavik team keeps the competition team stocked with both experienced and new competitors.
"This year, we had half of our members -- it was their first competing -- and the other half were guys who have competed before," Pitre said. "That's typically what we do at Diavik. We're always looking at building the overall team on site and having two weeks of training where you're totally focused on mine rescue it brings the skill level of up of the entire team."
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