retreated to a point near the face of an entry and built a barricade. After about 8 hours one of these men ventured out and met a rescue crew, then returned to the face of the entry and notified the other members of the party, who came out unassisted. M'ALPIN MINE A local coal-dust explosion caused by a mud-capped dynamite shot in the mine of the McAlpin Coal Co. at McAlpin, W. Va., on October 22, 1928, killed 6 men. About 200 men were in the mine at the time of the explosion, but only 22 were working in the affected section. Two men in the affected section had begun to erect a barricade in a room when a rescue party reached them about half an hour after the explosion. The rescue party had replaced several stoppings that had been blown out and reestablished ventilation up to the place where the 2 men were found. KINLOCH MINE A dust explosion caused by the breaking of a steel coal conveyor in a slope near the mouth of the Kinloch mine, Parnassus, Pa., March 21, 1929, killed 45 men in the mine and 1 man on the tipple. There were 258 men in the mine at the time, 212 of whom escaped on the day of the explosion and 1 on the following day. Officials in the mine displayed unusual foresight and courage in gathering 212 men together from the widely scattered workings and conducting them to the openings of an old connected mine. Most of the route traveled by these men was through old workings, and much of it was through waist-deep icy water. After encountering smoke from the explosion an assistant foreman, whose section was outside the zone of violence, assembled the 16 men on his section, and they barricaded themselves in a room by placing 3 brattices about 3 feet apart in the neck of the room. Before retreating to the room a regulator was opened and a hole knocked in a stopping to short-circuit the air. After about an hour behind the barricade it was found that the air outside was good. The foreman then led his men through old workings of a connecting mine to an opening to the surface. One man working in a pillar section barricaded himself in his working place and met an exploring crew on his way out of the mine on the day after the explosion. COALMONT MINE An explosion in the mine of the Coalmont Collieries, Ltd., at Blackburn, British Columbia, August 30, 1930, caused the death of 45 men. One other man in the mine at the time was near the slope entrance and was able to escape. Considerable delay was experienced in recovery work after the explosion, owing to extensive caves in the slope. Twelve men had attempted to build a brattice barricade in a chute, but all died before the barricade could be completed. It is improbable that these men would have been found alive even if the barricade had been effective, as it was more than a week after the explosion before the place was reached by a rescue party. The cause of this explosion was not determined, insofar as has been ascertained. 286734°-41———————4 FEDERAL NO. 3 MINE A gas and dust explosion at the Federal No. 3 mine of the New England Fuel & Transportation Co., Everettville, W. Va., April 30, 1927, killed 91 men in the mine and 6 men in the tipple. Three men attempted to barricade themselves in a pump room but were overcome by afterdamp. Messages written by one of these on scraps of paper torn from cement bags indicated that they lived 3 hours or more. Eight men had barricaded themselves in another section of the mine and were rescued about 2 hours after the explosion. The report does not give information about the type of barricade used in either instance. INDUSTRIAL NO. 18 MINE After a gas and dust explosion that killed 21 men in the No. 18 mine of the Industrial Coal Co. at West Frankfort, Ill., January 9, 1928, 2 groups of men had begun to build barricades when they were rescued. Three men working in a pair of entries on the intake side of the affected territory attempted to come out but encountered afterdamp: they retreated to the face of the entries and began to build barricades. About 4 hours after the explosion, while ventilation was being restored to these entries, they walked out unassisted. (See fig. 5.) Seventy-one men who were working in a section on the return from the explosion section doubtless were saved from being overcome by afterdamp by the fact that two doors had been blown out by the explosion, short-circuiting the air. Twenty-five of these men had retreated close to the faces of a pair of entries and had erected canvas barricades. After about 4 hours, ventilation was restored, and all of these men were able to walk out unassisted. LITTLE BETTY MINE An explosion occurred in the mine of the Little Betty Mining Co. at Dugger, Ind., January 28, 1931. There were 123 men in the mine at the time, 27 of whom were killed, 13 were rescued from the explosion area, and 83 escaped unassisted. Seven of the men in the explosion area had made their way to a room near the face of a pair of entries and had protected themselves by hanging a curtain across the mouth of the room. A door and stoppings at the outby end of these entries that had been blown out "shorted" the air and kept the afterdamp from reaching them. (See fig. 6.) SUNDAY CREEK NO. 6 MINE Nineteen men were found alive behind one barricade and 7 men were found dead behind another about 10 hours after an explosion in the mine of the Sunday Creek Coal Co. near Millfield, Ohio, November 5, 1930. This explosion caused the death of 82 men; about 140 men escaped or were rescued following the explosion. Nineteen men working in a section of the mine not affected by the violence of the explosion retreated to the face of a pair of entries (see fig. 7) and erected canvas barricades. About 10 hours after the explosion, a rescue crew found the barricade; they not only conducted FIGURE 5.-Section of Industrial No. 18 mine, showing where two groups of men barri caded themselves after an explosion. FIGURE 6.-Section of Little Betty mine showing room where seven men barricaded themselves after an explosion. FIGURE 7.-Section of explosion area of Sunday Creek No. 6 mine, showing barricading by two groups of men. fresh air but removed the men, a number of whom were in serious condition, to fresh air as well. Artificial respiration was given and oxygen administered to most of them; additional treatment was provided by doctors brought into the mine from the outside. After these men were rescued the rescue party proceeded up the 5 and 6 north entries into 21 and 22 west, where they found another barricade (see fig. 7). The bodies of seven men were behind the barricade, all of whom apparently had been dead for some time; possibly they had inhaled some of the poisonous gases before they erected the barricade, and in addition the barricaded region had a relatively small area with a correspondingly small amount of air. CARBONADO MINE An explosion in the mine of the Pacific Coal Co. at Carbonado, Wash., on April 12, 1930, killed 17 men. The timely action of a fire boss in erecting barricades saved the lives of 16 men. A rush of air gave warning that something had happened, and the fire boss hurriedly assembled his group and began to investigate. When they encountered smoke and fumes they short-circuited the air, retreated to a rock tunnel, and erected 2 canvas barricades. They were able to walk out unassisted after ventilation was restored several hours later. EAST NO. 5 MINE A local explosion in the East No. 5 mine of the C. C. B. Smokeless Coal Co., Stotesbury, W. Va., December 27, 1929, caused the death of two men. Twelve men, including an assistant foreman, were working in a section of the mine inby the explosion zone. These men felt the air wave of the explosion and, led by the foreman, promptly gathered material and barricaded themselves in a region near the faces of the entry by erecting two canvas stoppings. (See fig. 8.) After about 3 hours ventilation was reestablished, and they were found by a rescue party. These men used excellent judgment, inasmuch as they placed their brattices in such locations as to give a maximum amount of pure air behind the barricade, and, in addition, the region outby the two brattices they erected was so constituted as naturally to short-circuit any ventilation currents that might bring poisonous gases toward the barricade. MEXICAN MINE In a coal-mine explosion in December 1936 in Mexico, 38 lives were lost; nevertheless, in one instance 7 men and in another 9 saved their lives by barricading themselves and waiting until the poisonous gases outside the barricaded region had been removed by ventilation. These Mexican mine workers learned about barricading methods from a motion picture of the Bureau of Mines exhibited by the operating company about 10 years before, the English titles on the picture having been translated into Spanish for those present by the mine superintendent. Unquestionably, educational methods of the right type are of incalculable value in reaching workers with safety ideas, and equally unquestionably the motion picture (and more particularly the "talkie") is one of the most effective means now available of "putting over" the safety idea to workers. |