This week the mine rescue crew from the Bowie #2 Mine is at the Delta-Montrose Technical College in Paonia preparing for an upcoming competition.
Tony Wachowicz, a member of the Bowie coal mine rescue team, is participating in rescue training at the college.
“Mine rescue training is where you have a group of guys who go into a simulated problem and you go into a simulated field and you vent different gases and you save different people that have gotten into a situation," Wachowicz said.
He said federal regulations require mine rescue crews to compete in two rescue contests a year. He called the competitions intense.
“The prize is basically a trophy but it’s more along the lines of bragging rights," he said. "I like to think of it as a way to not only better yourself but to prove that you can do it.”
Wachowicz said at the competition crews have to finish timed tasks and are scored based on their performance.
Wachowicz will compete with his colleagues in a mine rescue training contest in Price, Utah next week.
