Carmeuse Longview mine rescue teams prove their skills

Surface mine rescue teams from the Carmeuse Longview Operation demonstrated their skills at the Alabama Surface Mining First Responder Competition, held at the Alabama Fire College in Tuscaloosa on June 6—9. 

Two Longview teams took part in the competition:

• The Grey Team—Charles Vansant, Steve Hall, Tonya Talbert, and Jeffery L. Adams.
• The Blue Team—Jeffery O. Adams, Chris Harris, Tony Parks, and Bobby Watley.

The Grey Team won 1st place in the First Aid Competition and 2nd place in the Field Competition. The Blue Team won 2nd place First Aid Competition and 3rd place Field Competition.

The competition ran over two days and included a field problem exercise and a first aid competition. Additionally, a number of parallel training sessions took place, covering first aid CPR and AED procedures, fire assessment and suppression, rope rescue, and high-angle rescue. 

Longview’s Mine Rescue Team began three years ago, is led by Captains Steve Hall and Charles Vansant, with mentoring from David Tant and Kelly Childers. The team is Carmeuse’s only Surface Mine Rescue Team and is comprised of hourly and salary employees with a total of approximately 20 members. The Mine Rescue Team meets twice a month for training.

“We are proud of the skills and commitment shown by our mine rescue teams. Team members train at least eight hours per month to ensure they are ready to respond, when needed, to keep our employees from harm. Their performance at the first responder competition only goes to prove what we at Longview already knew—in an emergency, we’re in safe hands,” said Longview’s human resources generalist, Sybil Owens.

In addition to competing at the event, Carmeuse Longview sponsored the competition, which is organized by the Alabama Mining Association.