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Cave Safety Talks With FOX 17

Cave Safety – Always Be Prepared When Exploring Underground

With 10,000 known caves, Tennessee has more caves per state than any other state in the nation. And explorers are finding new ones all the time. The crew at Cumberland Caverns has some important safety tips for explores planning an underground adventure.

When venturing underground remember your Rules of Three. Always have three sources of light and always cave with three people. And before you depart, remember to tell your friends and family where you are going. It’s very important to give clear details of your underground trip to people who are not accompanying you. Also, watch the weather and know the flooding patterns (if any) of the cave you plan to visit.

Our cave crew closely followed the story of the youth soccer team who became trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand. We are all thankful for the successful rescue of the boys and their coach.

Matt Alvarez of FOX 17 in Nashville, TN, visited Cumberland Caverns and spoke to our cave crew about the importance of cave safety. Kelly Roberts said,

“Something like Thailand could happen in Tennessee. It would not happen in one of the commercial caves. Our cave does not flood, but even at the commercial caves that do flood they keep a close eye on the weather and they will shut down if there’s going to be any inkling that there’s going to be a flood or high water.”

During a recent interview with FOX 17, long time explorer Bill Walter shared the importance of safety when caving. With 65 years of caving and exploring experience, Bill is an expert. Once he even rescued people who became stuck in a cave on his property. Bill said,

“Wet caves can be dangerous too, of course, the Thailand incident gave everybody a picture of what can happen, and Tennessee caves can flood.”

Watch the video and read the full FOX 17 news story.
Special thanks to Matt Alvarez for sharing the importance of caving safety.