Patient miners hoisted safely out from Galena Mine following power outage
Thumbs up! A handful of miners make their way out of the Galena Mine after remaining underground during a power outage that lasted for more than a day. The power was knocked out during Wednesday's wind storm. Sixty of the 80 miners who were underground when the power went down elected to wait for the power to be restored instead of climbing the thousands of feet of ladders to evacuate the mine manually.
Photo by JENNIFER McDONALD
Griff Rasmussen hugs his wife Kami — who was waiting for him at the surface on Thursday morning. Rasmussen was one of 60 miners who remained underground during a power outage at the Galena Mine.
WALLACE — Families were able to breathe a sigh of relief Thursday morning when 60 miners were finally hoisted out from the Galena Mine after more than a full day underground.
In the wake of Wednesday morning’s wind storm, the power went down across the entire Silver Valley resulting in some Galena miners having to make a tough choice.
Climb out or wait it out.
According to Galena Mine General Manager Torin Hasz, the common practice in these situations is for the miners to stand down and make their way to their level’s shaft station and wait for further instruction.
The No. 3 Shaft acts as the mine’s fresh air intake, so the 80 or so miners who were underground when the power went out at 7:30 were able to get to their respective stations and then decide whether or not they wanted to make the climb up to the surface or simply wait and see when the power came back on and catch the hoist back to the surface.
After about four hours, it was determined that this outage was going to be longer than any of them expected and roughly 20 of the miners made the decision — and safely climbed out.
The other 60 elected to wait.
“Think about trying to climb 5,000 feet vertically,” Hasz said. “That’s like climbing the Empire State Building five times. So we like to give them the option. They were in no danger.”
The climb isn’t necessarily treacherous, but it is a series of ladderways and landings that would be difficult to navigate in less than peak physical shape.
Each miner brings a lunch (plus extra food just in case) and a five-gallon cooler of water with them, so they were able to eat and stay hydrated while they waited.
According to Hasz there were reports of some of the miners making up games using track bolts to pass the time and some were even able to fashion beds out of boards and other miscellaneous materials.
At 9 a.m. Thursday, power was restored to the mine. After restoring power, it takes about 45 minutes to get the hoist up and going, but they were able to return all of the miners to the surface safe and sound.
“They looked tired and a little dirty, but they were all healthy,” Hasz said.
Hasz also wanted to extend a thanks to the crews with Avista who worked tirelessly to make sure that power was restored to the mine.
“Avista is always so keen on knowing that we have guys underground,” Hasz said. “No one can remember a time before where the power was out for so long — Avista had to do a lot of tweaking to get us up and running. I just have such a sincere appreciation for the work the Avista guys did and are doing — they’re the ones out risking their lives in the cold and up on the hillsides. Thank you so much.”
The Galena wasn't the only mine that had issues stemming from the power outage, however all personnel have been safely hoisted out from the Lucky Friday Mine by Wednesday afternoon.
