Search and Rescue Responds to Mine Accident

Over the Thanksgiving weekend the all-volunteer L.A. County Sheriff’s Department mine rescue team, including members of , responded to Placer County to recover a body located a quarter-mile from the surface in an active gold mine.

The team was called by the California Emergency Management Agency at the request of the Placer County Sheriff at midday on November 26 and immediately drove 10 hours to the St. George Mine in Foresthill, about an hour outside of Sacramento. The recovery operation began early Sunday morning with SMSR members entering the mine first to assess air quality and technical obstacles. SMSR members ensured that the mine was safe to enter without specialized breathing apparatus and determined the technical requirements of the operation. Other rescue team personnel then entered the mine.

LASD volunteers, assisted by the Nevada County mine rescue team, removed the victim through hazardous and confined terrain, traversing a series of pits and descending a 40-foot vertical shaft. SMSR team members were put in charge of negotiating the vertical section of the route and, aided by Nevada County personnel, accomplished the task safely.

The underground teams received surface support from Placer Mountain Rescue and the Placer County Sheriff. All rescuers were out of the mine by early afternoon.

The LASD mine rescue team, one of just a handful in California, is comprised of specially-trained volunteers from Sierra Madre Search and Rescue, Montrose Search and Rescue, Antelope Valley Search and Rescue, and Malibu Search and Rescue. Team members are trained in technical mine rescue techniques and are on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Related:

Sierra Madre Search and Rescue Website

This release was submitted by Jon Pedder and Chuck Stoughton of Sierra Madre Search and Rescue.