BIG CREEK - When 91 miners lost their lives to a fire May 2, 1972, the tight-knit community of the Silver Valley vowed to never forget.

It's a promise area residents have kept.

A memorial service for the 40th anniversary of the Sunshine Mine Disaster is 11 a.m. Wednesday in Big Creek, near Kellogg, at the miner's memorial statue located just off Interstate 90.

The event is sponsored by the Silver Valley Elks Lodges, and around 400 people are expected to attend. The local JROTC, consisting of Kellogg and Wallace students, will present the colors, and the Wallace High School band will play the national anthem.

There will be a hardhat out for each fallen miner with their name and the level they worked on, and as each miner's name is read, their headlamps will be extinguished.

This year's memorial speaker will be George White, a KWAL 620 AM DJ, who will speak about the radio station's integral part in supporting the Silver Valley with news during the disaster, as well as coordinating donations from all across the country. The station was on-air 24 hours a day for 10 days.

Tuesday will mark 40 years since electricians on the 3700 level of the Sunshine Mine smelled smoke and shouted a warning. A fire of unknown origin had begun, but it was no standard mine fire - nearly 100 lost their lives that day while 83 were rescued, many through heroic acts by co-workers and rescue employees. Two men spent a week in the mine before being rescued.

None of the men working on the 4200, 5200, 5400, 5600 and 5800 levels survived. Thirty-one died on the hoist room floor.

The now-defunct Bureau of Mines believed the probable cause of the fire was spontaneous combustion of refuse near scrap timber used to backfill worked out stopes. Extensive ground falls and caving occurred in the immediate area when timber supports were consumed, making investigation of the entire fire area impossible.

Families of trapped miners stood vigil for days in the mine yard, and the Sunshine was closed for nearly eight months while about 200 workers repaired damage caused by the fire.

Many affected by the fire remain in the Silver Valley to this day, a common bond uniting them, while others have since moved on to different locations. Still, plenty return for the memorial service. It's on May 2 each year that people of all ages - including fallen miners' wives and the grandchildren the miners were never able to meet - reconnect with each other to honor lives lost.