Essentials, Underground Rescue Competition, L.C. Rescue +

Essentials, Underground Rescue Competition, L.C. Rescue +book consists of underground rescue training & safety by Larry Campanas, Chief TrainerRescue Plus Richmond BC, CanadaPaperback8,4 x 10.8 x 1 inches
Mine rescue or mines rescue is the specialised job of rescuing miners and others who have become trapped or injured in underground mines because of mining accidents, roof falls or floods and disasters such as explosions caused by firedamp.
Mining laws in developed countries require trained, equipped mine rescue personnel to be available at all mining operations at surface and underground mining operations. Mine rescue teams must know the procedures used to rescue miners trapped by various hazards, including fire, explosions, cave-ins, toxic gas, smoke inhalation, and water entering the mine. Most mine rescue teams are composed of miners who know the mine and are familiar with the mine machinery they may encounter during the rescue, the layout of workings and geological conditions and working practices. Local and state governments may have teams on call ready to respond to mine accidents.
The first mines rescuers were the colliery managers and volunteer colleagues of the victims of the explosions, roof-falls and other accidents underground. They looked for signs of life, rescued the injured, sealed off underground fires so it would be possible to reopen the pit, and recovered bodies while working in dangerous conditions sometimes at great cost to themselves. Apart from safety lamps to detect gases, they had no special equipment. Most deaths in coal mines were caused by the poisonous gases caused by explosions, particularly afterdamp or carbon monoxide. Survivors of explosions were rare and most apparatus taken underground was used to fight fires or recover bodies. Early breathing apparatus derived from under-sea diving was developed and a crude nose and mouthpiece and breathing tubes was tried in France before 1800. Gas masks of various types were tried in the early-19th century: some had chemical filters, others goat skin reservoirs or metal canisters, but none eliminated carbon dioxide rendering them of limited use. Theodore Schwann, a German professor working in Belgium, designed breathing apparatus based on the regenerative process in 1854 and it was exhibited in Paris in the 1870s but may never have been used.
Henry Fleuss developed Schwann's apparatus into a form of self-contained breathing apparatus in the 1880s and it was used after an explosion at Seaham Colliery in 1881. The apparatus was further developed by Siebe Gorman into the Proto rebreather. In 1908 the Proto apparatus was chosen in a trial of equipment from several manufacturers to select the most efficient apparatus for use underground at Howe Bridge Mines Rescue Station and became the standard in rescue stations set up after the Coal Mines Act of 1911. An early use of the breathing apparatus was in the aftermath of an explosion at the Maypole Colliery in Abram in August 1908. Six trained rescuers at Howe Bridge trained men at individual collieries in the use of the equipment and at the time of the Pretoria Pit Disaster in 1910 several hundred trained men participated in the operation.
Mine rescue teams are trained in first aid, the use of a variety of tools, and the operation of self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) to work in passages filled with mine gases such as firedamp, afterdamp, chokedamp, and sometimes shallow submersion.
From 1989 to 2004, the SEFA backpack SCBA was made. Rescuers used it and its successors the Draeger rebreather and Biomarine. Narrow spaces in mines are often too constricted for bulky open circuit sets with big compressed-air cylinders.
In 2010, an all-female mine rescue team was formed at the Colorado School of Mines.
A mine rescue chamber is an emergency shelter installed in hazardous environments, typically underground. Also known as refuge chamber, refuge bay, or refuge alternative. Refuge chambers come in all types and models; suitable for a range of different industries including metalliferous mining, coal, tunnelling and petrochemical facilities.
In emergencies, when evacuation is no-longer safe or practical, the rescue chamber is designed to provide a safe and secure 'go-to' area for personnel to gather and await extraction.
Essentially, rescue chambers are sealed environments built to sustain life in an emergency or hazardous event such as a truck fire or toxic gas release. They provide a secure area with shelter, water, and breathable air, for people to remain until they are rescued or the hazard subsides.
Refuge chambers need to be sealed to prevent the ingress of toxins such as smoke contaminating the breathable air within the chamber. The sealed are is a closed circuit breathing apparatuses; where carbon dioxide and other toxins are removed, oxygen is added, and temperature and humidity are maintained, all while protecting occupants from the external threat.
The capacity and duration can vary depending on the chamber build. Communication equipment is also available. The chambers are required to be located in close proximity to worker areas.--------------------Cave rescue is a highly specialized field of wilderness rescue in which injured, trapped or lost cave explorers are medically treated and extracted from various cave environments.
Cave rescue borrows elements from firefighting, confined space rescue, rope rescue and mountaineering techniques but has also developed its own special techniques and skills for performing work in conditions that are almost always difficult and demanding. Since cave accidents, on an absolute scale, are a very limited form of incident, and cave rescue is a very specialized skill, normal emergency staff are rarely employed in the underground elements of the rescue. Instead, this is usually undertaken by other experienced cavers who undergo regular training through their organizations and are called up at need.
Cave rescues are slow, deliberate operations that require both a high level of organized teamwork and good communication. The extremes of the cave environment (air temperature, water, vertical depth) dictate every aspect of a cave rescue. Therefore, the rescuers must adapt skills and techniques that are as dynamic as the environment they must operate in.
A network of international cave rescue units is organised under the banner of the Union Internationale de Spéléologie (UIS). Most international cave rescue units such as the New South Wales Cave Rescue Squad based in Sydney, Australia, are listed with contacts for use in the event of a cave incident.
The world's first cave rescue team, the Cave Rescue Organisation (CRO), was founded in 1935 in Yorkshire, United Kingdom. Like all UK cave rescue groups, it is composed of volunteer cavers and funded entirely by donations. In the UK, regional groups have 'callout lists' containing the details of over 1,000 cavers around the country who can be contacted in case of an emergency. Since 1967, the British Cave Rescue Council (BCRC) has coordinated cave rescue organizations in the United Kingdom.
Organized cave rescue units in the United States are generally city/county funded volunteer squads, composed mainly of seasoned, local cavers. A pioneer organization in cave rescue in the 1960s was the CRCN (Cave Rescue Communications Network). Although it was not, itself, a rescue unit, it served to organize communications and coordinate contacting experienced cavers in the area to facilitate a rescue. The CRCN nominally operated out of Washington, DC, and covered the mid-Atlantic area. The typical Southeastern US cave rescue team averages between 15 and 20 active members. Due to the excessive amount of manpower required for a large-scale cave rescue, it is not uncommon for multiple cave rescue units from various regions to assist another in extensive underground operations. Because organized cave rescue teams are quite rare, it is also quite common for local units to cover regions that extend far beyond the area they are nominally responsible for. The number of cave rescues in North America are relatively small compared to other common wilderness rescues. The average number of reported cave related incidents is usually 40 to 50 per year. In most years, approximately 10 percent of reported accidents result in death.
In the US, the leading cave rescue training curriculum is developed and deployed by the National Cave Rescue Commission (NCRC), which operates as part of the National Speleological Society (NSS). The NCRC is not an operational cave rescue unit, but the organization is composed of members of regional rescue squads. The NCRC offers training across the country in the form of two-day orientation classes as well as longer regional and national week-long training classes. The National Cave Rescue Operations and Management Seminar is a week-long class offering 4 different levels of training and is held in different locations around the country every year.