The competition was put on by the Rocky Mountain Mine Rescue Association and included 13 teams from Colorado, Utah, Montana and New Mexico, and it was judged by representatives of the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration.
Members of Rangely’s Deserado Black Mine Rescue Team were: command center attendant Chris Walkingshaw, gas man Paul Kindall, captain Karl Davies, trainer Hank McKay, co-captain Eric Popham, first aid man Jared Winkler, map man Duke Rich and briefing officer Jon Hawkins.
Each team consists of a seven-man team and a trainer.
The team members took first place in combination mine and rescue team, which, McKay said, “Pretty much means you were tops in mine rescue and first aid.”
The team also took second in BG-4 bench competition, which involves a rescue apparatus, and the members took three state traveling trophies in first aid, mine rescue and combination.
McKay said the silver team from Deserado will travel to Craig on July 14-17 for its competition, and then the nationals will take place in Lexington, Ky., in September.
Deserado Mine is owned by Blue Mountain Energy and is a subsidiary of Deseret Generation and Transmission.
