Page 46 In May 2019 23 mine rescue teams from eight District Mine Rescue Ofces across Ontario participated in the Provincial Mine Rescue Competitions All mine rescue teams are given the same scenarios that simulate an emergency in an underground mine and have about two hours to complete the tasks in the exercise Each year the scenario changes This year the exercise began with the team told to investigate an un derground explosion and fre in an exploration drift The rescuers also have to deal with a medical issue because one of the people in the air tent is diabetic and displaying the efects of low blood sugar The person had her blood sugar tester and glucose in her lunch pail After looking through her lunch pail they locate what was needed to treat her Once the team has assured that the air tent is operational they continue to search for missing mine workers As the team proceeds they come across a diamond drill platform on fre The team then proceeded fur ther into the mine to fnd two more diamond drillers They also had to deal with methane gas that was pouring out of a drill hole that was on fre The generator and power pack for the diamond drill had tipped over and one man was pinne d under them Another man was also seri ously injured having been impaled by drill rods Prior to attending to the impaled man the team checked the vital signs of the man underneath the fallen genera tor Seeing that the vi tals were stable one team member put a breathing apparatu s on the man s face They awaited equip ment to lift the generator of of him They removed the rod out of the im paled man and brought him to the surface for further medical attention While part of the team were as sisting the injured men others were putting out the fre from the methane gas streaming from the drill hole In addition to the evaluation of the simulated mine emergency each team technician is evalu ated on repai ring a vital piece of rescue equipment There is also a written multiple choice test for all competitors The results of the test scores equiment repair task and the evaluation of the simulated emergency response are added up and the winning district team is determined The winning teams and technicians went on to the Provincial Mine Rescue Competition in Red Lake On tario By Frank Giorno District Mine Rescue Competition Page 44 Important Part of Education T raining The Mine Rescuer