CONTROL OF MINE FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS

Disaster-level explosions and fires have been reduced significantly overt the last few decades because of
expanded knowledge, strengthened safety regulations, more effective training, improved industry
attitude, and better vigilance by mine workers.

The primary objective of the mine ventilation engineer should always be to eliminate fires and
explosions altogether, a challenging and difficult goal, but one that must be relentlessly pursued.
PREVENTION STRATEGIES

Mine Fires

Because of the nature of mines, a fire in a mine is potentially a disaster. This results from the confined
space in mines and the fact that the mine must maintain a constant supply of ventilation air. Thus
ventilation can carry combustion products and play a major part in the occurrences of fatal fires and in
their prevention.

Three specific precursors of fire initiation are required:

1. Fuel

2. Oxygen

3. Heat

These three items are often referred to as the fire triangle.

Welding and cutting operations

• These types of fires are normally a result of human failure to prepare and protect the work site.

Electrical and frictional ignition sources

These fires generally occur in a variety of locations in the mines when electrical equipment
malfunctions, trolley wires cause arcing, or friction generates a great deal of heat on belt conveyors.

Spontaneous combustion fires in coal mines

The result of oxidation of coal under conditions that allow the heat of oxidation to be partially retained
in the coal until the self-ignition temperature is achieved.

Underground metal and nonmetal mines

The principal ignition sources are electrical, welding or cutting and engine heat.
For metal mines, fire-prevention efforts can be oriented toward fire-suppression systems on equipment
and safer and more reliable electrical systems.

The cardinal rule for eliminating deaths from mine fires is to prevent fires from occurring. The second
important principle is to provide for early detection so that most fires can be quickly extinguished. The
third most important safety factor is to design the ventilation system so that escape is possible in the
event of an uncontrollable fire.
Mine Explosions

Most explosions in mines occur in underground coal mines and are the result of either strata gases
gathering in parts of the mine or dusts being suspended in the airstream by some disturbance. The
requirements that must exist for an explosion are the following:

1. Fuel

2. Oxygen

3. Heat

4. Suspension or mixture of the fuel and oxygen

5. A degree of confinement

This is sometimes called the explosion pentagon.

Coupled with sufficient rock dusting, the primary method of eliminating mine explosions is control of
conditions that initiate explosions.

1. Explosive contaminants are targeted to control such that they are always below their explosive
limit.

2. Heat sources in a mine a controlled to keep ignitions from occurring.

3. Rock dusting is used in an attempt to quench dust explosions.

MINE MONITORING

The detection of a fire in its early stages may be the most important task of the minewide monitoring
system. To accomplish this task, a number of types of sensors are available. Three main principles of
operation are employed to detect fires: optical field of view, thermal, and products of combustion.

RESPONSES TO FIRE AND EXPLOSIONS

If the incident is a major one and is considered a threat to personnel, a set of four emergency phases is
initiated to counteract the threat and to bring about a restoration of a safe mine environment. The four
emergency phases are:

1. Escape of the miners

2. Rescue of trapped miners

3. Recovery of bodies

4. Recovery of the mine

Mine Communications

• When a fire or explosions occurs in a amine, one of the immediate concerns is the need to
communicate with all the personnel in the mine. A paging-type telephone system is used to
communicate with each section.

Ventilation Management

• Management of the ventilation system becomes crucial to the escape of personnel and to the
safety of rescue personnel who may enter the mine atmosphere. Ventilation management
normally becomes the responsibility of the disaster management team.

Firefighting

• In mining sections, a specified set of firefighting resources is normally required by federal law.
The following are required for most mines:

1. Two portable fire extinguishers

2. 240 lbs (109 kg) of rock dust

3. Waterlines into the section or two portable water or chemical cars

4. A portable foam-generating machine or a portable high-pressure rock-dusting machine and 60

bags of rock dust

In addition, portable fire extinguishers are also required on each piece of mobile equipment, at electrical
installations, at oil storage locations, and at other crucial points in the mine.

Escape Procedures

Whenever a fire or an explosion occurs, the escape of mine personnel is of paramount importance.
Three strategies of escape may be utilized:

1. Utilize the escapeways, donning self-protection equipment where needed.

2. Barricade a nonaffected part of the mine by trapping a supply of uncontaminated air.

3. Move to a refuge chamber.

Mine Rescue

The rescue of personnel is always the primary concern in the aftermath of a fire or an explosion.

Mine rescue attempts normally involve entry into the mine by mine rescue squads or the drilling of
escape boreholes into mine workings suspected to be the location of survivors.

A mine rescue team is trained to establish and work from a fresh-air base in the mine. On a six-person
rescue team, five miners normally perform the mine exploration while the sixth remains at the fresh-air
base. The base is set up at a location in the mine where the ventilation is strong enough to keep all
combustion gases swept away.
Mine Sealing

When a mine fire is out of control, is too remote, or cannot be fought without endangering personnel, it
may be necessary to seal the mine or part of the mine.

Sealing requires that all oxygen be cut off from the fire zone and that the seals remain intact and
effective if a gas explosion occurs behind the seals.

The building of thick-wall, solid-block seals is a labor-intensive and time-consuming activity. Alternative
designs using crib blocks and rock dust, cementitious foam, or low-density foam block can be used to
meet the requirements of federal regulations.

Monitoring Behind the Seals

Once a mine or an area of the mine has been sealed, the process of monitoring the atmosphere behind
the seals can begin. The ability to draw samples and measure head behind the seals is facilitated if small-
diameter tuning and a manometer are installed through the seals.

The samples taken from behind the seal are normally analyzed for N2, O2, CO, C02, CH4, H2, Ar, C2H6,
C2H2, and C2H4.

Mine Recovery

The proper choice of time for the recovery of a mine following a period of isolation behind seals is the
most important decision to be made in the recovery operation.

Conditions before the reentry can begin:

1. The oxygen content of the sealed area should be low enough to make an explosive impossible.

2. The carbon monoxide should have nearly disappeared.

3. The temperature of the fire area should have been reduced to minimize the chance of
rekindling.

GRAHAM’S RATIO (Index of Carbon Monoxide)

TRICKETT’S RATIO

Often called Jones-Trickett’s ratio, is used in a similar manner.

GOODLUCK AND GODBLESS! 
#100%