In order to prepare for the eventuality of underground disasters like the one that happened last winter in West Virginia, mine rescue teams must anticipate and practice many scenarios that might occur below the surface. That’s just what mine rescue teams from Missouri, New Mexico, Kansas, Illinois and Nevada will be doing Sept. 26-28 at the experimental mine owned by the University of Missouri-Rolla.

Students from UMR — the only university to have a mine rescue team — will compete against a dozen teams from the mining industry. The teams are evaluated on how well they handle a simulated disaster underground. The event will be set up and judged by representatives of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).

In the competition, the teams will be rated on how well they follow the basic rules and regulations of the underground rescue problem, and they’ll be graded on a written exam. The competition also features events involving first aid, gas testing and maintaining a complex self-contained breathing apparatus.

“The general public is invited to come out and see how this works,” says Jim Taylor, advisor to the UMR team and supervisor of UMR’s Experimental Mine. “We’ll even let people observe underground, as long as they check in a get a hard hat.”

UMR’s Experimental Mine is located off Bridge School Road in Rolla. For more information, call 573-341-6406 or 573-341-4753.

Members of UMR’s 2006 Mine Rescue Team include:

– Tyler Acorn, a senior in mining engineering from Devil’s Elbow, Mo.

– Nathan Davis, a junior in mining engineering from Bucklin, Mo.

– David Floyd, a senior in mining engineering from Easley, S.C.

– Jared Harrison, a freshman in mining engineering from Fenton, Mo.

– Ivan Howard, a sophomore in mining engineering from Warrensburg, Mo.

– Margaret Howard, a sophomore in mining engineering from Warrensburg, Mo.

– Matt Kimbel, a senior in mining engineering from St. Charles, Mo.

– Adam Kresler, a senior in mining engineering from Winter Park, Colo.

– Broadus Jeffcoat-Sacco, a senior in geology and geophysics from Bismarck, S.D.

– John McWade, a sophomore in mining engineering from Pevely, Mo.

– Joe Roth, a sophomore in mining engineering from Omaha, Neb.

– Nathan Rouse, a sophomore in mining engineering from Willow Springs, Mo.

– Matt Schuckenbrock, a senior in mining engineering from Louisiana, Mo.

– Casey Slaughter, a sophomore in mining engineering from Rolla

– Darrin Smith, a sophomore in mining engineering from St. Charles, Mo.

– Alex Warren, a sophomore in mining engineering from St. Joseph, Mo.