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A group of coal miners knew exactly how to beat the cold temperatures Wednesday: 30 million BTU of fire fighter training at Rend Lake College.
Nine members of the fire brigade from Century Mine in Beallsville, Ohio, were busy putting RLC’s state-of-the-art training facility to the test in Ina.
The day started with problem scenarios in the 10,000-square-feet mock underground mine at the Coal Mine Training Center. The team then moved out to the mine rescue and safety training facility where it practiced putting out different degrees of fire, in clear and smoky conditions, on the program’s advanced fire training props and inside the fire tunnel.
“It is invaluable for us to ensure safe, realistic and effective training,” said Terry Wilkerson, RLC Applied Science and Technology Division chair. “This was a significant day for our mining program. Today, with the first of many successful live fire training sessions, we made the industry aware that we are the training facility in the Illinois Coal Basin, the next hotbed for the coal industry.”
“We came down here as part of the fire brigade team to get some extra training — get in some smoke, air and extreme heat, and learn a little about ventilation,” said Brian Tingler, a miner from Bethesda, Ohio. This is our first time in Illinois. This is a pretty nice facility. You’ve got a nice, newer facility, and the instructors are pretty doggone good.”
Leading the training for the day were David Colombo and Ron Raines from RLC with Scott Smith and Jason Jeffe, the company corporate trainer and assistant corporate safety director, respectively, with Murray Energy Corporation out of Ohio.
“These guys are the first line of defense if there is a fire,” Colombo said of the fire brigade members. “They are trained specifically to put fires out, save lives and save property. This training here today is essential. This is probably one of the more seasoned teams we are going to see.”
According to Colombo, the training facilities at RLC have been built to train miners in all aspects of the mining scenario — whether it be fire brigade, mine rescue, new miners or miners seeking continuing education.
The coal mining program at Rend Lake has grown tremendously since college leaders broke ground on the CMTC in 2008.
It can be reached at (618) 437-5321.
A group of coal miners knew exactly how to beat the cold temperatures Wednesday: 30 million BTU of fire fighter training at Rend Lake College.
Nine members of the fire brigade from Century Mine in Beallsville, Ohio, were busy putting RLC’s state-of-the-art training facility to the test in Ina.
The day started with problem scenarios in the 10,000-square-feet mock underground mine at the Coal Mine Training Center. The team then moved out to the mine rescue and safety training facility where it practiced putting out different degrees of fire, in clear and smoky conditions, on the program’s advanced fire training props and inside the fire tunnel.
“It is invaluable for us to ensure safe, realistic and effective training,” said Terry Wilkerson, RLC Applied Science and Technology Division chair. “This was a significant day for our mining program. Today, with the first of many successful live fire training sessions, we made the industry aware that we are the training facility in the Illinois Coal Basin, the next hotbed for the coal industry.”
“We came down here as part of the fire brigade team to get some extra training — get in some smoke, air and extreme heat, and learn a little about ventilation,” said Brian Tingler, a miner from Bethesda, Ohio. This is our first time in Illinois. This is a pretty nice facility. You’ve got a nice, newer facility, and the instructors are pretty doggone good.”
Leading the training for the day were David Colombo and Ron Raines from RLC with Scott Smith and Jason Jeffe, the company corporate trainer and assistant corporate safety director, respectively, with Murray Energy Corporation out of Ohio.
“These guys are the first line of defense if there is a fire,” Colombo said of the fire brigade members. “They are trained specifically to put fires out, save lives and save property. This training here today is essential. This is probably one of the more seasoned teams we are going to see.”
According to Colombo, the training facilities at RLC have been built to train miners in all aspects of the mining scenario — whether it be fire brigade, mine rescue, new miners or miners seeking continuing education.
The coal mining program at Rend Lake has grown tremendously since college leaders broke ground on the CMTC in 2008.
It can be reached at (618) 437-5321.
