Canada

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

PotashCorp miners walk out of the Rocanville potash mine Tuesday night after being rescued from an underground fire on Tuesday September 25, 2012. The first of 20 miners trapped underground by a fire at a Saskatchewan potash mine have been brought back to the surface. THE CANADIAN PRESS/David Lipnowski

After spending a day trapped underground by a fire at a Saskatchewan potash mine, electrician Darwyn Wirth knew exactly what he wanted to do.

"I think I'm going to go and have a cold beer," he told reporters shortly after he and 19 of his colleagues were brought safely back to the surface.

The blaze broke out at about 2 a.m. Tuesday when a large wooden cable spool started burning at PotashCorp.'s Rocanville mine, about 244 kilometres east of Regina.

There was no panic, said the miners, who immediately headed to four separate refuge stations scattered throughout the facility.

"We have an alarm system with loud bells and flashing red lights, and you immediately go to a refuge station and call the control room so they know where you are," said Wirth.

It took about 10 hours to extinguish the fire, but it took several more hours for crews to determine it was safe to bring the workers up.

"It's a matter of cooling the area down and ventilating the air," said Bill Cooper, spokesman for PotashCorp.

"There's kilometres of tunnels underground and just the way the ventilation system works, it's got to clear all that out. The air quality's got to be at a point where it's safe to take people to the surface."