U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health TRAPED

MENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES . USA

“YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE” 

A NEW VIDEO RELEASE FROM NIOSH ON THE SUNSHINE MINE FIRE

 Experience, it is said, is the best teacher. Some experiences,

however, should be shared so that no one else will ever have to live

through them again. The fire at the Sunshine Mine is one such

experience. 

“Hard-rock mines don’t burn.” 

The Sunshine Mine near Kellogg, ID, was the nation’s premier

silver producer for many years. In 1972, the mine was nearly 6,000

feet deep, contained hundreds of miles of worked-out areas, and

employed nearly 500 people. Because of its depth and the type of

host rock for the silver (unburnable quartzite), the general thinking

of the day was that fires in mines such as the Sunshine were impossible, because “hard-rock mines don’t burn.” What wasn’t really

considered was that timber supports, foam insulation, and mining

equipment do burn and that the carbon monoxide gas produced by

burning is far more deadly than fire itself. 

Thus, no one was prepared when, on May 2, 1972, a fire of unknown origin broke out below the 3100 level of the mine. Before

long, 173 miners on the day shift were trapped by thick, black smoke.

By the time the fire was out, 91 miners had died, and the Sunshine

Mine Fire became known as one of the worst mine disasters of the

20th century. It became the catalyst for passage of the Metal/

Nonmetal Health and Safety Act of 1977, which applied the same

federal safety standards to hard-rock mines as those regulating coal.

Mandated safety training, mine inspections, and equipment standards

were brought into force.

Creation of the video

“You Are My Sunshine” is the result of over 60 hours of taping

and interviewing 27 survivors of the Sunshine Mine Fire, families of

both survivors and victims, and members of the community over a

period of 20 months. Footage from the mine itself shows areas

discussed by the interviewees. Re-enactments of escapes from the

mine were shot in the Sunshine and in mines nearby. Historic

photographs and movies, artifacts and props, and background

information place the Sunshine in its environmental, cultural, and

historic setting.

The resulting video is not only a memorial to those who died, but

also serves as a training film that points up the lessons learned from

the fire and how the fire led to improvements in mine safety procedures, equipment, and planning. In fact, almost no part of hardrock mining was left untouched by the after-effects of this fire.

The final video on the Sunshine Mine Fire is 68 minutes long. It

is part of a series of videos being created by NIOSH to improve mine

safety training. While originally designed for mine rescue teams,

“You Are My Sunshine” is being shown to people in underground

and surface mining, and hard-rock, aggregate, and coal mining. It

shows clearly what can result when the unexpected happens and no

plan has been created to deal with it. This video is extremely

relevant to all in the mining industry.

For More Information

To obtain a copy of this video or for more information, contact

Elaine Cullen, Spokane Research Laboratory, E. 315 Montgomery,

Spokane WA 99207 (509) 354-8057 efc8@cdc.gov

To receive additional information about occupational safety

and health problems, call 1-800-35-NIOSH (1-800-356-4674),

or visit the NIOSH Web site at www.cdc.gov/niosh

Mention of any company name or product does not constitute

endorsement by the National Institute for Occupational Safety

and Health.

Technology News

Milestones in Mining Safety and Health Technology

SAFER HEALTHIER PEOPLE

No. 497 August 2002
Figure 1.–Interviewing Jim Lamphere, a survivor of the Sunshine Mine Fire.

Figure 2.–Sunshine Mine memorial at the bottom of Big Creek just off Interstate 90 near

Kellogg, ID. The plaque lists the names of the 91

miners who died in the fire.