{"id":122898,"date":"2013-11-17T22:18:19","date_gmt":"2013-11-18T05:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/foreman-from-durango-died-trying-to-save-miner\/"},"modified":"2013-11-17T22:18:19","modified_gmt":"2013-11-18T05:18:19","slug":"foreman-from-durango-died-trying-to-save-miner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/foreman-from-durango-died-trying-to-save-miner\/","title":{"rendered":"Foreman from Durango died trying to save miner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Montrose
Montrose emergency services stage at Montrose Memorial Hospital on Sunday morning in response to a mining accident in Ouray County. A \u201cCode Orange\u201d was declared at the hospital following the news that more than 20 miners had been injured in an accident.<\/span>William Woody\/The Denver Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

They were family men, one an experienced hard rock miner, the other a newcomer to a dangerous business who left a job in Colorado\u2019s oil patch so he could be close to his young family.<\/p>\n

On Sunday morning, Nicholas Cappanno, 33, went into a section of the Revenue-Virginius mine in Ouray County where an explosive had recently been detonated. When he didn\u2019t come out, his shift foreman, Rick Williams, 59, went to find him.<\/p>\n

They both died, overcome by lethal carbon monoxide the blast left behind.<\/p>\n

Cappanno, who had been on the job for only about two weeks, \u201cwas my little brother,\u201d said Eric Keep, 36, \u201che was probably one of the funniest guys. The other guy (Williams) was his boss and he died trying to save him. He is a hero.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams \u201cknew how to make the right decision and he put others before himself,\u201d said his son, Nathan Williams, 25.<\/p>\n

Miners who were working in the area found the bodies and detected the deadly levels of CO2 before evacuating, said Amy Louviere, spokeswoman for the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration. Twenty miners were taken to hospitals after the accident, and all have since been released.<\/p>\n

The MSHA has required the mine operator to submit a plan to assure the mine is properly ventilated and all harmful gases have been removed so the investigation can begin, Louviere said.<\/p>\n

The mine produced silver from 1876 until the 1940s. Denver-based Star Mine LLC resumed operations this year.<\/p>\n

Williams, a Durango resident and father of two grown children, was among the first to take a job there when the mine reopened, Nathan Williams said.<\/p>\n

He had mined gold, silver, \u201call sorts of things,\u201d when he was younger, then left mining to become a contractor, building and remodeling homes, his son said. The poor economy led him back to mining.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for the market crash, he wouldn\u2019t have had to get into it,\u201d Nathan Williams said.<\/p>\n

An U.S. Air Force veteran who worked in helicopter repair, Williams was raised, and spent most of his life in and around the San Juan Mountains, where mining is a way of life for many.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was tough, he took care of business, he wasn\u2019t afraid to do the right thing, even if other people wouldn\u2019t,\u201d his son said.<\/p>\n

Cappanno, too, was good with his hands, and had remodeled several homes, said his sister-in-law, Katie Caufield, 36.<\/p>\n

He had worked in oil fields in Colorado and Wyoming, and was employed by a subcontractor in Rifle before going to work at the mine about two weeks before the accident, Keep said.<\/p>\n

Working in the oil fields kept him away from his family for weeks at a time, and he wanted to be home with his wife, Martha, where he could tuck his children into bed at night.<\/p>\n

He had grown up around miners \u2014 cousins and uncles labored below ground, Keep said. \u201cMom and dad and myself didn\u2019t really feel comfortable with him going down there, but he is a grown man.\u201d<\/p>\n

A job in the mine also gave him an opportunity to work on something he was passionate about \u2014 brewing beer. He wanted to start a company that would malt grain for use by craft brewers, and he was pursuing his dream, Caufield said.<\/p>\n

Mining \u201chim the means to be with his family as much as possible and it gave him the opportunity to pursue his malting dream,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

He was aware of the risks inherent in mining, Caufield said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy brother being so green on the job, a lack of experience may have contributed to his death,\u201d Keep said. \u201c I don\u2019t know if my brother was trying to prove himself by taking the lead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Colorado mining fatalities<\/h4>\n

The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration lists these mining fatalities in Colorado since 1995:
\n July 14, 2012
\n Colowyo Coal Mine, Meeker, Moffat County
\n Jason Kawcak, 25, was killed when the truck he was driving overturned.
\n June 9, 2011
\n West Elk Coal Mine, Somerset, Gunnison County
\n Fred A. Benally, 53, a contract ironworker, was killed when he slipped and fell from a beam at the scalping tower construction site.
\n Jan. 6, 2007
\n Elk Creek Mine, Somerset, Gunnison County
\n Jeremy Garcia, 26, was killed when welded wire mesh panels he was working on fell and pinned him against a diesel-powered scoop.
\n Oct. 1, 2003
\n Holly Pit, Holly, Prowers County
\n Jose D. Pina, 39, was killed when the forklift he was operating fell into a dredge pond of the sand-and-gravel operation.
\n Oct. 12, 2002
\n Russell Pit, Wellington, Larimer County
\n Helen L. Pittington, 52, was killed when she was struck by a front-end loader that was backing up at the sand-and-gravel pit.
\n Jan. 21, 2002
\n Fort Collins Plant of Aggregate Industries, Larimer County
\n Kenneth M. Allinder, 51, was killed when he became entangled in the machinery he was working on at the sand-and-gravel facility.
\n April 25, 2001
\n Portable Crushing Plant No. 5, Maybell, Moffat County
\n Nester R. Tafoya, 39, was killed when a suspended conveyor fell on him.
\n Feb. 26, 2001
\n Portland Plant and Quarry, Florence, Fremont County
\n Ismael Jimenez Ponce, 50, was killed when he fell from a scaffold ladder.
\n Dec. 4, 2000
\n Sanborn Creek Mine. Somerset, Gunnison County
\n Thomas Emmons, 37, was killed when he was hit in the face with a high-pressure emulsion hose and fittings after a hydraulic fitting broke and caused the hose \u201cto whip violently.\u201d
\n Feb. 8, 2000
\n Camas Gravel Mine, Frederick, Weld County
\n A 60-year-old mine foreman, whose name is not listed in the report, was run over by a scraper that was backing up.
\n Aug. 12, 1999
\n Trapper Mine, Craig, Moffat County
\n Joseph T. Koonce was killed by an unintentional detonation of explosives.
\n July 21, 1999
\n Grizzly Bear Mine, Ouray, Ouray County
\n Joseph M. Mattivi, 47, was killed when the bucket of a loader fell on him.
\n July 7, 1999
\n Pagosa Cattle Co. Pit No. 1, Pagosa Springs, Archuleta County
\n A 34-year-old contractor, who was not named in the accident report, was killed when the hood of a front-end loader\u2019s engine compartment fell on him.
\n Dec. 14, 1998
\n Bowie Mine, Paonia, Delta County
\n Hector Camacho, 35, and Rocky Gallob, 38, were killed in a roof collapse.
\n Nov. 4, 1998
\n Sunday Mine Complex, Dove Creek, Dolores County
\n Jimmy Duwayne Dial, 36, was killed when he was crushed by a rockslide.
\n July 19, 1997
\n Crusher 1 Mine, Carbondale, Garfield County
\n Terry LeeRoy Vroman, 19, was killed when he was pinned between two pieces of equipment at the sand-and-gravel pit.
\n Oct. 29, 1996
\n Deserado Mine, Rangely, Rio Blanco County
\n Ted E. Munford was killed when the raised bed of the truck he was driving hit an overhead conveyor at 30 mph.
\n Oct. 25, 1995
\n Golden Eagle Mine, Weston, Las Animas County
\n Murrell L. Browning and Frank Barron were killed when a roof-bolting machine fell.
\n July 19, 1995
\n Henderson Mine and Mill, Empire, Clear Creek County
\n Scott D. Christian, 32, a delivery truck driver, was killed when he was crushed by a falling beam.
\n Source: U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Investigators rule out explosion as cause of deaths<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":122899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[701,1152,13],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-122898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-disasters-and-crashes","tag-emergency-incident","tag-frontpage-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122898"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=122898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}