At approximately 9p.m. on Wednesday, July 24, the eighteen miners were in danger underground, below the fields of Dormel Farm when the flooded Saxman mine was breached as the mining progressed eastward. Water had broken through the face and was inundating the entry, and the nine miners in the 1-Left panel area used the mine's phone system to notify the other group of nine miners in the 2-Left panel to evacuate immediately. These miners were able to escape at around 9:45p.m. and alert others, and a 911 call was made at 9:53p.m. However, the mine was flooding too rapidly for the miners in the 1-Left panel area to evacuate. Twice they tried to travel in the four-foot-high tunnels over to a shaft that would lead them to the surface, but these were also flooded. Back on the surface, Pennsylvania State Police were guarding the Quecreek mine site by 10:30p.m., and instructed reporters to go to the local church for a press conference scheduled to occur later that night. State Police Cpl. Robert Barnes Jr. also telephoned families of missing miners asking them to come to the Sipesville firehouse for more information. Around 11p.m., Barnes also asked United Methodist pastor, Barry Ritenour, if he could spend the night at the firehouse with the families. In addition, calls were made between 11:30pm and 12am to find a drill that could bore a hole big enough to raise men from a mine. One was located in Clarksburg, West Virginia.