MSHA’s Dilemma – How to Deal with Survivors of the Initial Fire or Explosion

©April 2008 Dr. B. C. Paul

Most Mass Casualty Events are Fires or Explosions

• What should be done if an event occurs?• Some combination of

– Get people out– Get rescue teams in– Have People Barricade or hold up for rescue

• Of course if you blow up the whole mine like Winter Quarters or Monagah you don’t have to worry about survivors– One effects of good ventilation, rock dusting and

keeping coal dust down is that you probably won’t blow whole mines out the entrance

A Best Course of Action

• Historically largest groups of survivors are those who got out quickly after the mine blew.

• People who are out of the mine don’t need to be rescued– If you have people in the mine someone must

balance risk to their rescue parties vs. lives that will be lost with a slow response

– Hope breeds heroics (often more pronounced than calculated response)

The Flip Side

• Historically the largest group of the dead (assuming the survived the initial blast) has been those groping toward escape– Originally miners had no breathing devices so

unless you got onto a fresh air stream or outran the CO you were toast

• This led to the alternate practice that if you are trapped try to barricade and protect a good air pocket.

To Barricade or Not to Barricade

• For people not near openings where explosions were behind them or a fresh air course available

Value of Barricading

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Barricade Run

Survival Odd

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Lived

Died

% Incidents

Those who barricadedHad an 80% chance

Those you ran 25%

In many barricadeSituations those whoRefused were foundDead within a fewHundred feet

When has Making a Run Worked

• When the explosion is deeper inside and the opening is a short distance away.

• When you can exit into the incoming air– In past haulages were often placed in returns, haulages were most

likely to be open• Also most likely to let CO overtake you

– Of 328 men who escaped successfully• 223 followed incoming air courses created by quick fan and door

settings to throw fresh air onto an escape route– Belle Ellen 1922 – 16 got backed into returns and CO got them

• When you can tell and know where you are going– Smoke darkness and confusion has lost many the time to escape

the CO

Breathable Air – An Escape Key

• Some early successes have been people throwing air and ventilation onto an escapeway– Of course with mine ventilation controls

damaged you could fuel 2nd explosion or fire– Consol #9 in 1968 one of best cases – tried to

open an air course to Mahen shaft and pulled the fire in

• Another choice – artificial breathing gear

Breathing Gear

• 1905 Zeigler in Southern Illinois and 1907 at Monagah have first examples of rescuers or investigators using breathing suits

• By 1910’s started having a few cashes of breathing gear for rescue crews

• Most of the 55 men who escaped Overton Mine Dec 10 1925 used self rescuers– First major documented case of rescue equipment

cashes being used for escape• Not until the early 1970’s did MESA force self

rescuers to be a part of miners gear

Limitations of Self Rescuers

• Self rescuers catalyze CO to CO2 reactions– Only effective against 1 gas– Only work if oxygen is present

• If any kind of fire continues likely to burn out oxygen• Can’t really rush a fire with this type of gear

– Also reaction makes mouthpiece hot• Some survivors blistered their mouth holding onto mouthpiece• (those who avoided the blisters didn’t get to boast of their

success)

• In 1980 MSHA mandated cashes of Self contained rescuers for everyone underground– Self contained rescuers had own oxygen supply for an

hour

MSHA’s New Emergency Evacuation Rule

• Normally adding to CFR takes years• MSHA Secretary can issue an immediate

temporary order by publishing it in Federal Register– Then go through hearings to make permanent– Must be able to show that immediate danger demands

action.• March 9, 2006 after Sago determined such an

immediate danger existed– New rule pushed evacuation as the preferred alternative

to barricading

ET Standards on Evacuation

• Mines Must have 2 SCSRs not one for everyone underground – caches every 2000 feet.– Walk to Surface can be very long – your not riding

mantrips in a mine fire (one hour often not enough oxygen – some of the miners who died in Wilburg in 1984 almost made it and ran out of air

– Even if you can walk there in an hour – could you doing after running circles and chaos for 15 minutes and then do it blind through a smoke filled tunnel?

– Mines with known to long walks must put at least 1 additional rescuer in a cache along the escapeway

The Panic and Rust Problem

• Putting on Self Rescuers is not an every day task– Tested to see how many people could easily put on a

SR – most could not – they are a pain

– Trained people came back after two weeks and tested them (80% could do it)

– Tested after 90 days (30% could do it)

• Problem – skills deteriorate when not used– Many mines rescuer training is watching a video of

someone putting on a rescuer

Training

• New training must be “hands on” – you have to physically put on a rescuer – not watch someone else do it– Over half of people who evacuated successfully had

done things that would have killed them in an unfriendly atmosphere

• Training must include rescuer transfer– Going from FSR to SCSR or changing an SCSR

• No longer train once a year– Every 90 days as part of a “real evacuation drill” – you

walk out for real on the escape routes and see where the back up air caches are at

The Life Line

• Smoke will black out all light• When allowed belt air to be used on mine faces

required – life line – a directional rope on escapeway

• New Standard calls for directional lifelines in all coal mines on both primary and secondary escapeways– Easiest version – rope has directional cone on it that

points the way to the exit– Training requires people to locate and follow the line-

lines

Illinois State Regulatory Guidance

• One problems with people evacuating is they are sluggish to put on equipment

• They will take out mouth pieces to talk• Easy for individuals to be separated• Apparatus is very hard to breath through – really

can’t rush• State suggestion – rope group together with

weakest person in the lead– Weak paces the group and rope avoids separation

Barricade or Run is Still an Issue

• Regulatory panels are still struggling with whether to have a run or stay put standard

• MSHA put in place an Emergency Evacuation Standard

• But then turned around and ordered mines to have 96 hour air supplies for people underground

The 96 Hour Air Standard

• Ordered mines to have an air supply for 96 hours for everyone that could be underground

• Rules were not well fixed on what would count– Manufactures grabbed air chamber designs for mobile

air chambers– Mine operators considered building stoppings or

curtains on cross-cuts and stashing air bottles inside– Other options included running compressed air lines to

chambers or having air holes to surface

• NIOSH first analysis came out Dec. 2007

Problems with Barricading

• You have to have time before CO gets you– Group that tried barricade in Mather #3 (1928) tried

retreating back 3 times putting barricade but CO kept closing in too fast

– We don’t know how many dead were thinking about barricading

• Usually have to organize teams out of panic and chaos in a pitch black environment

– Today’s self rescuers buy time earlier groups did not have

When Barricades Fail

• 5 out of 8 failed cases involved barricades that leaked CO– Most failed barricades will leave people alive

for only a very short time

• Natural question – what were the rest– Jamison in 1953 group of 3 were barricaded in

and got blown up by a secondary explosion– Got curious and came out to explore

Innovative Sort of Barricades

The Air Supply trick• San Bois #2 March 20 1912 a group of 14 men

sealed up the pump chamber area and opened a compressed air-line (held out 23 hours till rescued)

• Bessie Nov 4 1916 a group of 3 held up around a broken compressed air line

Why 96 Hours?

• Most successful barricades involve rescue in the first 24 hours– 82% of those barricading survived if rescued in 24 hours

• Longest barricades in History– Cherry Mine Fire (1909)– 21 men for nearly 8 days

• Problem was they had no food and only a little water seeping into the coal

• One of the survivors died from deprivation of food and water

– Layland #3 – (1915) – 42 men for 4 days and 3 hours– Cincinnati (1913) – 5 men for 4 days– Layland #3 (1915) – 5 men for 3 days– Cross Mountain (1911) – 3 men for 2.5 days

Longer Failed Barricades

• Fratersville, Tenn 1902– Took 8 hours for fumes to clear– Then they found a cave in that took a couple hours– They advanced quickly after that and missed rescuing barricaded

miners by 2.5 hours (the notes contained time info)– Within 6 hours people dying about 7.5 hours till all were gone

• Dunavin July 14 1939 - 9 died but notes and other equipment indicates they lived only about 6 hours

• Sago, Jan 2, 2006 – took 42.5 hours to get to them (11 of 12 were dead)– Has the distinction of being longest failed barricade

Barricaded People Commit Rescue Crews to Risk

• Unequipped people running in have only being fresh and adrenalin to help them

• Trained and equipped still have risk of falling objects but found about 2 cases

• One case had heart attack• Apparatus failures or miss operations

– Found three who took off masks because of strain of breathing through them – two died

– Found one man with broken hose– Found another who had set his oxygen off– For hundreds of people over 100 years – not to bad

• Biggest risk is secondary explosion

Secondary Explosions

• A number of cases where witnesses indicate the initial blast was actually close series.

– Not threat to rescue crews• Sucker Explosions

– Castle Gate Mar 8 1924 3 severe blasts in first 20 minutes plus lots of smaller– Only danger to those who mindlessly run in– Carolina Mine May 27 1925 bag of smolding explosives got foreman running up

the slope to report blast• Violent explosions coming out of obvious flame

– Consol #9 1968– No one would be trying to go in that way

• Low IQ– Rescue crews walk into methane pockets with the same open flame lamps that set

off first explosion• Rush Run 1905 first blast got 13 miners second got 11 rescuers• #16 mine 1911 3 rescue workers got themselves with their lamps

• Real risk is the time delay Stealth Explosion

Case Studies

• Hanna Wyoming – Mar 28 1908– 18 men had been sent to fight a fire – combustion products became

explosive• Whether 18 were dead or trapped is debate

– 41 people led by State Mine Inspector went in to get them• Mine blew a 2nd time and killed the rescuers

• Shannon Branch – May 13 1927– Mine probably on fire inside and blasts kept driving rescue crews

out– Didn’t get the rescue crews

• Krammer – Mar 26 1937– First explosion got 2 and started fire– Products from fire exploded and got 7 of their Friends rescuing

Case Studies

• Baker July 15 1937– Rescue parties own carbide lights set off second explosion

• Pond Creek Jan 10 1940– Rescue party got a rush of air but didn’t get killed – came from ahead of

them in the mine beyond fresh air lines.• Jamison #9 Nov 13 1953

– Crews detected building up combustion products and were pulled back and sealed before the 2nd blast

– Second blast got a group barricaded in and waiting for rescue• Consol #9 1968

– Had to pull back crews and seal because of constant explosion risk• Scotia March 1976

– 3 days after blast the recovery crew was killed by a second blast from out of an unventilated area ahead

• Jim Walters Resources 2001

Potential Outcomes of 96 Hour Air Standard

• Chambers need to survive an initial 15 psi overpressure– Reason 15 is maximum overpressure a body can stand (you don’t

need chambers for dead bodies)

• Hardened fixed chambers will likely be expensive– Some companies in Illinois are still looking at curtains to seal front

of chamber– State will require framing because edges had clearly visible light

and leaks• Would the framing take 15 psi?

• Portable Chambers at around $120,000 each likely to be used

The Technology

• Portable Chambers are of two types– In common they are picked up and moved

toward the face on advance– Need to be within 2500 feet

• Hardened shell chambers– Go into a steel box that has air tanks, food,

usually limited battery power, and scrubber to remove CO2 (just supplying Oxygen won’t stop CO2 poisoning)

The Inflatable Tent

• Smaller steel box, door opens and a tent inflates– Like the chamber it has air supply, scrubber,

food, water, limited light

• The idea behind all is to create an isolated atmosphere and avoid barricades that leak

Example of Strata Products Chamber

Weaknesses

• Technology is being distributed based only on designs and computer simulations

• NIOSH completed physical tests in 2007 involving steam and CO2 injection and using light bulbs as heat sources

• SIU is pushing proposals for manned testing

Anticipated Problems of Use

• Air containers actual performance often falls short of theoretical– 1 hour SCSRs are often 45 minutes– Some of the designs ran out of air in the NIOSH simulations

• Carbon dioxide systems can be hard to monitor– Can’t tell when many of them are running out of CO2 adsorption

• May not have a tech or specialist in every chamber

• Humidity build-up– People breath out and CO2 scrubbers produce water vapor in their

chemical reactions– Air becomes saturated and isolated atmospheres sweat like a cold

water glass on a hot humid summer day

Heat Exhaustion

• Solid chamber testing heated to over 100 F– They could not dissipate the heat

• Tent chambers seem to fair better but are very sensitive to outside temperature– Computer simulation and NIOSH tests

correlated poorly

Other issues

• Portable chambers force people into very confined space– Steel chambers have to hunch and crouch over (4

days?)– Tent about 48 feet long and 5 feet wide, but back 25%

may be needed for a bathroom area and air-lock• 3X5 feet = 15 square feet per person (not counting space for

scrubber system or bathroom being subtracted)

• Tents might be ripped by rock or subject to secondary explosion (Jameson, 1953)

• Of course leaving people to die of CO isn’t appealing either

Inside the Strata Products Refuge Chamber

MSHA’s dilemma

• Do you arm your people with SCSRs and try to march them out through a “war zone”

• Do you hold them up– Leave them in an unstable mine environment– Press rescue workers to get to them

• At the end of the day they will still have to go out with SCSRs – maybe with some assistance

– Dynamics of rescue crews trying to rescue 30 people at a time from a chamber is still not understood

• MSHA is betting money (Other Peoples) both ways right now – may still be shake-down and debate ahead– After all to barricade or run hasn’t been answered in the first 100

years