Sbaffoni looks back at Quecreek miracle
Ask Joseph A. Sbaffoni how his life has changed in the past few months, and his immediate reaction is to chuckle. “It’s changed drastically,” he responds.
The 50-year-old Fairchance man can no longer walk down the aisle in a store, sit down for a meal at a restaurant or run an errand to the bank without being recognized.
And then when he starts to tell the story of what gave him the notoriety, he inevitably shows the emotion that makes him even more recognizable: His lips purse, his chin quivers and he reaches under his glasses to dab at the corner of his eye.
The world watched him break down in tears on television when the news came out that all nine miners trapped in July in the flooded Quecreek mine in Somerset County were alive. Sbaffoni couldn’t help but react honestly.
“I cry every day,” he said.
The emotions welled up fresh again Thursday. He had been named October Citizen of the Month by the Fayette County commissioners and went afterward to do some banking when a woman recognized him and introduced him to others. Memories flooded back and some tears were shared in that meeting.
Another award came Thursday night when the Advisory Board of Penn State Fayette Inc. honored him as the 2002 Outstanding Alumnus of the Fayette Campus.
Sbaffoni talked candidly before he received the Penn State award about his experiences since the 72-hour ordeal at Quecreek. Using a low, even voice with hands clasped, he said he has been interviewed by all types of media and wonders when the attention will die down. The reporters’ calls to his house the week after the rescue were seemingly endless.
He was a visible spokesman at the site of the rescue, an area besieged by media. He had the ability to interpret the situation in his position as bituminous mine safety chief with the Bituminous Mine Safety Division of the state Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Deep Mine Safety.
He served as a technical adviser to Gov. Mark Schweiker and briefed him and others on the progress of the rescue. He also kept the miners’ families informed.
“I became close with the families,” he said.
Sbaffoni said his tears then and now are tears of joy for the lives saved July 27. He has kept in touch with the miners and their families, and his emotions are heightened by that interaction.
He recalled the call he got late July 24 about the trapped miners in the flooded mine.
He was in the mining industry 32 years, but this situation was something new for Sbaffoni. He was involved in fires at Cumberland and Mathies mines, but he had never had to deal with trapped miners. He said the inundation of water into Quecreek mine was unique.
Talking about the rescue and the efforts to drill into the mine, he said he has thought about different scenarios of what could have happened, but the decisions that had to be made were made quickly. He said so much training is done to prepare for any type of situation, and that training certainly contributed to the outcome.
He is quick to use the word miracle and cite the intervention of God.
“We made the decisions we had to make, and the miners did what they had to underground, and we had a lot of help from God. It was a miracle,” he said.
Sbaffoni is a reluctant celebrity, saying he was just one man and so many others had a hand in the rescue. He admitted he is not confident addressing groups of people.
However, he has had no free weekends between appearances, presentations and honors. Fairchance had Joe Sbaffoni Day, and the Pennsylvania Bituminous Coal Show included Sbaffoni in the King Coal Parade.
Sbaffoni was honored by Penn State’s College of Earth and Mineral Science with the Engineering and Science Service to Community Award.
He was a recipient of the 2002 Governor’s Excellence in Service Award.
Those are just a couple of the highlights.
“It’s humbling,” he said. “People look at me as a hero, but I don’t consider myself a hero.”
The attention is overwhelming and the awards are great, but he said he accepts this on behalf of everyone who was involved in the rescue. He referred to a database of more than 700 names of people who were involved at Quecreek, from state officials to firefighters.
He said Schweiker, in particular, was impressive and cleared the red tape to give the rescue workers anything they needed.
“The governor was a rock,” he said.
He said Schweiker made a comment about him at a picnic the governor hosted for the miners and rescue workers.
“He said, ‘Where’s Joe?’ I was trying to hide,” he said.
The comment came out anyway and Sbaffoni smiled when he recalled the story. Schweiker told the group he was calling anything that was done right “a Sbaffoni.”
Asked how he felt about the governor’s accolade, yet again, Sbaffoni said he was just doing his job.
“The purpose of the Bureau of Deep Mine Safety is to ensure the safety of the mines,” he said. “Mining is a dangerous business. It has come a long way, but it is still dangerous.”
He said his goal and the purpose of the bureau is for the miners to go home at the end of their work day to be with their families.
Sbaffoni’s personal heritage concerns mining, and he said the career choice was a natural one.
“My grandfather came from Italy to Fayette County and worked in the mines. My family is coal miners. My wife’s family is coal miners,” he said. “It’s in my blood. That’s what I’ve done, and that’s what I want to do.”
Sbaffoni has, in the past, had other job offers, but he has a commitment to mining health and safety. He said what he and his colleagues do has saved an unknown number of lives over the years, but the Quecreek Mine rescue accounts for nine visible lives saved.
“My wife says the good Lord put the right people in the right place a the right time,” he said.
“Quecreek was truly a miracle, no matter what. To be part of a miracle was very special to me, and I will never forget.”