The 2019 Provincial Mine Rescue Competition will be coming to Williams Lake.
Mayor Walt Cobb says it will be a good economic opportunity for the City and will also show off some of our natural resources.
“We had it a few years ago, and they asked if they could come back and we’ve agreed that we will do what we could do to help them come,” he said.
“As I understand it right now the competition will be in the Stampede Grounds and there are 400 competitors who will be here for a week.”
The Provincial Mine Rescue and First Aid Competition has been held annually since the 1950s to test the emergency response and rescue abilities of mine rescue teams from across the BC in either surface or underground competition.
To host the event on June 1, 2019, Williams Lake Council agreed at Tuesday’ regular meeting that the amount of $10,000 is referred for inclusion in the 2019 budget.
“They need space to be and one of the things that have to happen or when they ask a community, we have to be able to help sponsor and the $10,000 would go towards whether they need the Gibraltar Room because they’re going to have a banquet at the end of the day. With it also comes a trade-show and they might need some help for the Curling Rink,” Cobb explained.
“So there’s odds and ends that they aren’t able to cover themselves as a group so we’re willing to sponsor it up to $10,000 but from what we’ve heard so far is that it won’t be anywhere near that. There’s also lots of industry in town that deals with the mines that might be willing to be a sponsor and help cover the costs.”
The Provincial Mine Rescue Competition was held this year in Kimberley.