Teams from across the province competed at the Mine Rescue event in Saskatoon

15 teams across Saskatchewan came together at Prairieland Park this weekend for the 52nd Emergency Response – Mine Rescue Skills Competition.

Each team that made it to Saskatoon had to win their own competitions to make it to Provincials. That makes this event the best of the best.

“We’ve got 15 teams today, 9 underground teams and 6 surface teams and they come from various parts of the province, from the northern mines to the coal mines in the south,” said James Ferstl, Saskatchewan Mining Association Marshall.

The Mine Rescue Skills Competition is a place for miners to compete against teams from other arounds around the province. The goal is to perfect their skills, just in case they’re ever in an emergency in the future.

Trained teams from potash, coal, uranium and gold mines are testing their emergency response skills in very real simulated scenarios. That includes first aid, fire fighting, practical skills, surface and underground mine problems.

“So there’s a number of different events.. The event that you see behind us is the fire event, we’ve got practical skills, surface problems, first aid and then we’ve got 2 large mine problems,” said Ferstl.

Contestants were feeling the heat.

“These are the best of the best, we had in-house competitions and it’s pretty awesome knowing that you get to be among the best, but it’s super humbling as well,” said Kaylee Hayko, Mosaic K3 Competitor.

They must complete the challenge, but also make sure they’re taking the right steps.

“Learning these skills is super helpful for real life, not only just for competition,” said Hayko.

Across Saskatchewan hundreds of highly-trained emergency response personnel are on standby 24 hours each day, 365 days of the year.

This competition tests the skills these specialists will need to deal with future emergencies.