Local Cave Expert Dives Into Thailand Rescue Operation
By Jeff Todd
JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4)- For the past two weeks, the world has been watching Thailand and the 12 boys, along with their soccer coach, stuck in a flooded cave. They were found alive after they were missing for nine days, but now the biggest hurdle is getting them out alive.
Colorado isn't well known for cave exploration, but there are a few hundred members of the National Speleological Society based in the state. Some of them teach cave rescues.
"Every cave kind of has a different personality if you will. Some are very ornate, some are dry, some are small and slimy and crawly," said Melody Eady-Pumplin, a cave rescue instructor from Jefferson County.
Eady-Pumplin started caving 20 years ago and quickly started teaching cave rescue with the volunteer-driven National Cave Rescue Commission.
"Litter handling and technical rigging and all of this type of stuff is what we teach," she said. "You need to have three sources of light, you need to make sure you're dressed appropriately. You need to have food and water for much longer than the time you're expected to be caving. "
Colorado has pockets of caves around the state, from Colorado Springs, to Glenwood Springs and elsewhere.
Eady-Pumplin says the conditions in Colorado caves are very different than ones in Thailand where crews are working to rescue that soccer team.
She has responded to a few rescues in the past couple of years.
"I don't think inherently it is a risky sport. I think it is the person and the decision they make where they're going beyond their skill level that makes it risky," she said. "As soon as you break the barrier and you're underground it really is a different world. How you move is different."
LINK: National Speleological Society
National Cave Rescue Commission
Jeff Todd joined the CBS4 team in 2011 covering the Western Slope in the Mountain Newsroom. Since 2015 he's been working across the Front Range in the Denver Headquarters. Follow him on Twitter @CBS4Jeff.