Rescue of miners highlight of area man’s career
PERRYOPOLIS – A Frazier High School graduate who serves as a mining engineer for the U.S. Department of Labor acknowledged Wednesday how taking part in the grueling rescue of nine men from the Quecreek Mine last summer became the highlight of his career. “I don’t think that I’ll ever be in a situation where we had as good as results like we had in this case,” said Kevin G. Stricklin.
Stricklin, a 1976 graduate, recounted his role in the rescue to an auditorium filled with middle school students in sixth through eighth grades.
Stricklin, assistant district manager of the department’s technical division, travels nationally and internationally, speaking about the July 24 incident in which nine miners became trapped in a flooded coal mine in Somerset County, only to be rescued 77 hours later.
“It’s such a good story that everyone wants to hear it,” said Stricklin, who resides in Rostraver Township with his wife, Cynthia, and their 11 year-old son, Derek.
Barbara Mehalov, middle school principal, introduced Stricklin to the students, noting that he was one of several officials responsible for making crucial decisions in the rescue.
“He was formulating what was going on, on the outside (of the mine), to make sure they had a safe rescue,” said Mehalov.
Little did Stricklin know that a 9:30 p.m. call on his cell phone Wednesday, July 24, would turn into a four-day operation of life or death for the nine men trapped inside the mine.
At first, Stricklin figured the call was routine, until he was told that water was entering the Quecreek Mine and nine people were unaccounted for. As he traveled toward Somerset, Stricklin never received the phone call he was waiting for.
“It’s typical for me to sometimes get on the road and get a phone call saying these guys are accounted for and the rescue operation is off, to go back home,” said Stricklin. “When you don’t get a phone call the first 45 minutes to an hour, you know it’s going to be an emergency situation.”
Through a series of photographs, Stricklin provided students with a better insight of how the incident occurred and the successful attempt to rescue the nine men.
On July 24, Stricklin said, 18 men started their typical day at work at 3 p.m., entering the mine opening through 4-foot portals, traveling to depths of 6,400 and 7,900 feet.
Although the men were working near an abandoned mine that was closed in the late 1960s, Stricklin said it was sealed at the surface, meeting all federal and state regulations.
Based on previous information, Stricklin said, he approved the area in which the men were working, since both mines had to be at least 200 feet apart from each other.
“We thought that we had that,” he said.
While they tried to get out, Stricklin said, the nine men in the bottom area found themselves with water up to their noses, walking bent over, trying to escape.
By 2:30 a.m., Stricklin said, the water had risen to 1,805 feet and was working its way near the portals. Twenty minutes later, the first rescue efforts began, as crews began drilling a 6-inch borehole in the middle of a farm field.
“We picked the high spot in the mine to drill into, because we thought it was the best chance of survival, and the miners knew that,” Stricklin said.
Almost two hours later, the borehole entered the mine. That’s when Stricklin said his heart was pounding, because he heard tapping on the bottom of the pipe. When he heard nine taps, Stricklin knew that all of the men were alive.
But, Stricklin said he knew he had to act quickly because the water was flowing in rapidly.
As time was running out, so was the oxygen content, so a decision was made to pump in compressed air, to build pressure into the area the men were in.
“We had a plan and stuck to it,” said Stricklin.
By Thursday afternoon, Stricklin said, the water was stabilized and another borehole was drilled, taking seven hours to reach 114 feet. With the men submerged in water for more than 24 hours, emergency personnel became concerned about hypothermia and decompression.
On the third day, the drill broke, halting rescue efforts for another three hours until a second borehole was established and another drill brought in.
If Stricklin’s job was not hard enough, he also had to keep the families informed.
“One of the toughest things I had to do was to go to the fire hall and talk to the family members… when it’s hard to give a feeling of hope and still be realistic about the situation,” said Stricklin.
With the clock still ticking three days later, the drill came within 30 feet of the mine, and by 8 p.m. Saturday, Stricklin said, the rescue was going “full speed ahead.”
Two hours later, crews broke into the mine and for the first time in several days heard the miners tapping once again.
“They made a pact amongst themselves that they would first share (the news) with the families,” said Stricklin.
Overwhelmed with emotion, however, Stricklin said it was hard to keep the good news from the media.
After contacting the men with a two-way communication system dropped into the hole, Stricklin said, it was official that all nine men were alive. Upon bringing them out of the hole via capsule, crews found that the men were not wet from the area they were trapped in but from the water that came from the borehole.
When asked why he thought the nine men lived, Stricklin replied, “They had the will to live and worked together as a team to survive.”
The administration and school board recognized Stricklin’s efforts in a plaque, presented to him by Mehalov.