The next phase of the Royal Commission into the Pike River Coal mine disaster will determine whether there was a window of opportunity for a rescue team to enter the mine.
Hearings resume in Greymouth next week and will examine search and rescue procedures after explosions at the West Coast mine beginning on 19 November in which 29 men died.
The commission will question the adequacy of the emergency response, whether rescue efforts were well run, and ask whether there was ever a window of opportunity to re-enter the mine.
Twenty-six witnesses will be questioned including police, Mines Rescue Service personnel, the Fire Service, Australian experts and miners' family members.
Among them will be Tasman District Police Superintendent Gary Knowles, who was in charge of the rescue operation.
Grey District mayor Tony Kokshoorn says many locals still don't think the police should have been calling the shots.
Mr Kokshoorn says the question everyone wants to know is whether the men who died could have been rescued following the first explosion.
He says locals still believe a rescue team should have gone in straight away before methane levels rose to unsafe levels again.
However, some victims' family members, including Daniel Rockhouse and Rod Holling, believe the men had no chance of survival following the first explosion.
Others, including Geoff Valli, who lost his brother Keith Valli, believe a rescue team should have entered the mine within 24 hours of the first blast.
Seven mine family members will give evidence, as well as Pike River company managers, including chief executive Peter Whittall who gave evidence in the first phase of the hearing in July.
Other questions to be asked include whether the rescue efforts were conducted by the right people and whether the efforts were hampered by a lack of vital information.
The resumed hearing will be held from 5-23 September.
