Madisonville's Kentucky Coal Academy Hosts Competition

Six underground mine rescue teams qualified for national competition yesterday during the Kentucky Coal Academy’s first Regional Skills Championship in Madisonville. First-place team captain Zach Brown said yesterday’s tough competition made his six-man rescue squad better life-savers.

"I think that in the event of an emergency it will make us better capable to respond to people trapped, or if we have to, get a mine back to operation. I do think it will make us better at that area," Brown said.

Brown has been a mine rescuer for eight years at Gibson County Coal Company’s Princeton, Ind., mine. His team, one team from West Virginia, and four teams from Kentucky’s 12 Western Coal Field underground mines move on to the National Mine Rescue Championships October 2nd in Beckley, West Virginia.