Ontario Mine Rescue is the program that creates, oversees and evaluates

mine rescue 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. Background Mining law ...

training and standards in the province of

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. The Ontario Mine Rescue program is administered by Workplace Safety North, part of the prevention arm of the Ontario

Ministry of Labour The Ministry of Labour ('' UK''), or Labor ('' US''), also known as the Department of Labour, or Labor, is a government department responsible for setting labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, training, a ...

History

Ontario Mine Rescue was born out of the tragedy of the Hollinger Mine

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition ...

that claimed the lives of 39 miners in

Timmins Timmins ( ) is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada, located on the Mattagami River. The city is the fourth-largest city in the Northeastern Ontario region with a population of 41,145 (2021). The city's economy is based on natural resource ext ...

in 1928. Neither the mine, the town or even the province had the expertise or the resources to respond to save their lives or adequately fight the fire. Mine rescue teams from

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

had to be called in to extinguish the fire, while recovery operations were left to local mine management. The resulting provincial royal commission recommended the creation of an Ontario Mine Rescue organization under the Department of Mines to respond to underground mine fires. The 1947 East Malartic Fire marked a major turning point for Ontario Mine Rescue as teams from Timmins,

Kirkland Lake Kirkland Lake is a town and municipality in Timiskaming District in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. The 2016 population, according to Statistics Canada, was 7,981. The community name was based on a nearby lake which in turn was named after Winnifre ...

and

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario (official name; the city continues to be known simply as Sudbury for most purposes) ** Sudbury (electoral district), one of the city's federal e ...

responded to a call to help fight a mine fire in

Malartic, Quebec Malartic is a town on the Malartic River in northwestern Quebec, Canada, in the La Vallée-de-l'Or Regional County Municipality. It is located about east of the centre of Rouyn-Noranda along Quebec Route 117 and the Canadian National Railw ...

. It was the first and only time Ontario Mine Rescue teams responded to an out-of-province emergency. While working together, it became evident each district had different training and maintenance standards. As a result, the position of Senior Mine Rescue Officer was created to ensure province-wide standards in mine rescue training and equipment maintenance were established and maintained. In 1965 another mine fire in Timmins, this one at the McIntyre Mine, forced the organization to make another change. The underground distance rescue teams had to travel to reach the fire was so great that the two-hour McCaa apparatus was not sufficient to allow them time to fight the fire. In 1966, after investigating and testing different apparatus, the BG174 was purchased to allow for a four-hour capability. The BG174 proved a workhorse for almost 40 years before it was replaced by the BG4. Ontario Mine Rescue took on added responsibility in 1984 after four miners were trapped and killed in a rockburst at

Falconbridge Falconbridge may refer to: *Falconbridge Ltd., a Canadian mining company *Falconbridge, Middlesex County, Ontario *Falconbridge, Greater Sudbury, Ontario People: *Lord Falconbridge, an alternative title for barons, viscounts, and earls of Fauconbe ...

No. 5 Shaft near Sudbury. The Stevenson Commission recommended that the organization's mandate be expanded to conduct training in and respond to non-fire emergencies. Training on non-fire rescue equipment began shortly after. In January 2001, responsibility for Ontario Mine Rescue was transferred to the Mines and Aggregates Safety and Health Association, now a part of Workplace Safety North (WSN). The program changed from usage of the Draeger BG174 to the Drager BG4 self-contained breathing apparatus. Standardized competency based training programs were developed to ensure consistent delivery of information to mine rescue teams across the province.

Mine rescue stations

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

Station ::1988 - Present : Wawa Station ::2016 - Present :

Station ::1931 - Present : Onaping Station ::1968 - Present : Red Lake Station ::1948 - Present :

Station ::1932 - Present :

Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario; its population ...

Station ::1982 - 1987 ::2006 - Present :

Station ::1930 - Present When mining activity ceases in thea jurisdiction, some stations that had been established for emergency response capability were closed or relocated. :

Cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element with the symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, pr ...

:::1953 - 1992 :

Elliot Lake Elliot Lake is a city in Algoma District, Ontario, Canada. It is north of Lake Huron, midway between the cities of Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie in the Northern Ontario region. Once dubbed the "uranium capital of the world," Elliot Lake has since ...

:::1958 - 1998 :

Geraldton Geraldton (Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. At June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. ...

:::1946 - 1977 :

Manitouwadge Manitouwadge is a township (Canada), township in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. It is located in the Thunder Bay District, at the north end of Ontario Highway 614, Highway 614, east of Thunder Bay and nor ...

:::1977 - 1982 :::1987 - 2005

Ontario Mine Rescue Provincial Competition

2016 International Mine Rescue Competition

Ontario Mine Rescue hosted the 10th International Mines Rescue Competition (IMRC 2016) in Sudbury, Ontario. The competition is held every two years by the governing mine rescue body of the host nation or jurisdiction. The 2016 event marked the first time the competition was held in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

References

External links