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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

TRAINING DAY

Rescue squad team rehearses for open mine pit extractions

Aloysia Power
Posted 9/18/14

REGIONAL – Members of the St. Louis County Volunteer Rescue Squad strapped into their harnesses and rappelled down the 300-foot deep iron-red wall of the West Tower Pit in Soudan Underground Mine …

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TRAINING DAY

Rescue squad team rehearses for open mine pit extractions

Posted

REGIONAL – Members of the St. Louis County Volunteer Rescue Squad strapped into their harnesses and rappelled down the 300-foot deep iron-red wall of the West Tower Pit in Soudan Underground Mine State Park this past Saturday, but this time it was a training exercise rather than a real rescue. Squad members were simulating an open pit extraction, using their manual rope-and-pulley rigging system and rescue dummies to hone their skills in preparation for future rescues in any of the dozens of old mine pits and cliffs around the county.

Within the last few years, the rescue team has mounted several mine pit rescues, including the harrowing rescue of two young boys who were clinging to the side of a Virginia pit wall. They have also saved a woman who jumped into the water at the old Section Thirty mine near Winton, and another woman who fell into a pit in Chisholm. The squad has also had to recover drowning victims from area pits.

“It is a somewhat regular occurrence for us to be working in or around these difficult areas,” stated SLCRS First Lieutenant Kurt Erickson.

People are attracted to cliffs and open mine pits for various reasons including exploration, cliff jumping, swimming and free-climbing, according to Erickson, but he said none of these adventures validate the dangers these environments present.

“Stay away, stay away from open pits,” Erickson said, repeating himself one more time. In particular, Erickson cautioned against free-climbing, stating that a fall from six feet or more is lethal.

“They’ll start to climb and get into a position where they can’t go back and they can’t go forward,” he said about free-climbers. “And then we have to come in. We call them ‘geckos.’”

The open pit rescue operation

During their training session in Soudan, rescuers organized themselves into teams.

The head rigger designed and set up the rigging system, catering to each different scenario. Depending on the number of team members available to help lower and pull the rescue rope, the head rigger would arrange a different pulley system – the more man power available, the lower the ratio of rope to foot of rescue, and vice versa.

“You have to get the muscle power somehow,” said Erickson.

The belayers tended to the ropes connected to the harnesses of the rappellers, who were lowered into the pit to rescue dummies with stretchers or other harnesses.

Erickson said the majority of the operations went smoothly, saying the most difficult part was learning how to achieve the correct angle of pull in order for the prusik safety knot on the belay rope to create a jamming system with the pulley.

“We were finding flaws in equipment so we know how to avoid it,” said Erickson.

During the rescue performances, the squad ran into a few unsuspected discoveries, including snow from last winter inside a mine drift and an old mining drill stuck into the ground. Rescuers said they’d go back for the drill at some point so the park can put it on display.

While there, the squad also cut away a section of brush around the pit near the west end of the park’s parking lot to create better access to the pit for rescuers and a better view for others.

SLRS hopes to do more rescue training activities inside the Soudan Mine to learn how to work together in a cave environment.

"rescue squad", Soudan, "St. Louis County"