Tomblin Unveils New Mine Safety Truck

Photos and Article by Michael Browning

CHARLESTON — Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, joined by mine disaster victims' families, coal mining experts, miners, and state leaders together unveiled a one-of-a-kind mine rescue truck Tuesday at the State Capitol.

The Command Unit Rapid Response Task Force 1 and Mine Rescue Truck, was created as a direct result of last year's Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster, a press release issued by the governor's office said.

"I am still saddened by the loss of 29 lives nearly one year ago," Gov. Tomblin said in the press release. "The families of the UBB tragedy have said 'Don't let this happen again'. This mine rescue truck is our response to help fulfill that request. We have made sure that it is fully equipped to provide mine rescue teams with the tools needed to greatly improve a mine rescue operation if and when called upon in the future."

The one-of-a-kind vehicle includes features such as:

? Satellite G.P.S. technology for mine mapping, bore hole locating, and gas well detection;

? Multi-station gas chromate-graph technology lab with rapid sample analysis and includes two remote, portable labs that can be deployed for additional sampling requirements;

? Advanced lightening and weather detection up to 300 miles;

? Complete full featured mobile office complex with multiple smart boards and engineering equipment;

? Advanced inter-agency, inter-operable communications with high-speed military-grade satellite link operating with voice over IP and radio over IP;

? Video data recording; and

? Internal and external media presentation.

The primary mission of this mine rescue truck is that it be used proactively as a safety tool, the press release said. The vehicle will perform mine site evaluations so that the West Virginia Office of Miners' Health Safety and Training can identify baseline atmospheric readings to identify those mines with potential atmospheric problems before an accident.

"When we have mine tragedies, we have to learn from those and no one ever wants to see it happen again," Gov. Tomblin said in an interview with The Logan Banner. "I was at Upper Big Branch for quite awhile and the families said they didn't want any other families to ever have to go through what they experienced. That's the reason we have developed this technology. We're just so thankful that we have this technology available now in case we ever have another disaster like we've had in the past."

Southern Community and Technical College's Mine Rescue Task Force 1 technical staff will operate the vehicle in the West Virginia coal fields and it will be based out of the community and technical college located at Mud Fork near Logan.

"It will be stationed at either the Logan or Boone County locations of Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College, because that's kind of the center of the major coal mining production in the state."

Tomblin said the vehicles will always be ready for immediate use in the case of another mine disaster.

"These could very well be called out for use today," Tomblin said. "We just have to be ready and protect our miners."

The truck will be able to assist with any state or national emergency. Advanced lightening and weather detection up to 300 miles;

It will be a complete full featured mobile office complex with multiple smart boards and engineering equipment and will have advanced inter-agency, inter-operable communications with high-speed military-grade satellite link operating with voice over IP and radio over IP; video data recording; and internal and external media presentation.

The primary mission of this mine rescue truck is that it be used proactively as a safety tool. The vehicle will perform mine site evaluations so that the West Virginia Office of Miners' Health Safety and Training can identify baseline atmospheric readings to identify those mines with potential atmospheric problems before an accident.

Southern Community and Technical College's Mine Rescue Task Force 1 technical staff will operate the vehicle in the West Virginia coal fields. The truck will be able to assist with any state or national emergency.

Several family members of miners who have died in accidents were in attendance. Two approached the governor with comments about the new rescue truck.

Sheila Erwin, whose husband, Robie, died last year after being crushed by a mine shuttle car, asked federal mine officials at the event if there is any work being done to help prevent deaths caused by mine car accidents like the one that killed her husband.

"I asked him about proximity detectors inside the mines. I know the federal agencies have been studying this for years, but nothing has been done to make them possible inside the mines," Erwin said. "I asked them what they are doing with regard to that. They told me that probably within the next month, they will have to have those. I have information that they have known for years that that is a problem.

"The way that Robie and his crew were mining that day, he was going in a straight line and they had a power outage and they made them do dead work during the outage. They had to build a permanent stopping and then there was a rock fall. When they build that permanent stopping, it was no longer a straight path and it had to go in a curve. It was very narrow in there, so when the shuttle car came out, it pinned Robie against the rib. With those proximity protectors, it would have shut the machine off."

Erwin said she was pleased to know that the proximity detectors are coming in the near future.

"They're working on it," Erwin said.

John Groves, the brother of Sago Mine explosion victim Jerry Groves, greeted the governor with a hug and said he wishes the mine rescue truck would have been in use when the Sago tragedy happened.

"The designer told me that if this equipment had been available when the Sago disaster happened, they would have been able to have saved the miners' lives," Groves said. "I wish we would have had this years ago and to know that it is going to keep someone else from going through what we went through, I feel very good about that."