The Forrest City times., 1911-06-30
Many Lives Lost in Recent Years
 From Accidents.
Installation of Comparatively lnex- pensVe Fighting Appliances, Regulations and Drills Would
 Help Materially.

New York.-Herbert NJ Wilson, chief engineer of the bureau of mines, in an address delivered at the annual meeting of the National Fire associa- ton in this city the other day, said that failure to appreciate the serious ness of mine fires and lack of ade- Quate fire protection have resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives and the destruction of millions of dollars worth of property in the last few years. He declared that two of the most serious disasters in coal mines in the last two years. one at Cherry, H.. in which 262 lives were lost and the other at the Pancoast mine. near Scranton. Pa, in which "A lives were lost, originated from trivial causes and ought to have been quickly ex tinguished without the sacrifice of hu- man life.
 The contact of several bales of hay with a blazing torch or an open miners lamp" said Mir Wilson, caused the Cherry mine disaster with its great loss of life and a total cost of one million dollars. of which S50.00 day was spent In direct fire fighting for several days.
 The fire in the Pancoast mine killed "A miners, left 45 widows and 137 dependent orphans. This fire is known to have started in an under ground room, presumably from some oilsoaked waste. The fire was not thought serious until 1t had been burn ing two hours. This delay was, in large measure. responsible for the great loss of life.
 Besides the loss of life, fires have cost much in money. At Deadwood, S D. 100000 has been spent in fight ing fire in a metal mine Today fires are raging in coal and metal mines in various parts of the country. Some of them have got beyond control. and have been burning for many years. de vouring hundreds of thousands of tons of coal and miles of mine galleries One mine fire near Carbondale, Pa, has burned out such a vast area of an thracite coal in the last ten years as 10 result in subsistence of the sur face and destruction of surface prop erty. Near Summit. Pa, fire which has been burning 5l years Is estima- ted to have destroyed s25, ,000. .000 worth of coal. Near Jobs, O., a tract of coal valued at several million dol lars has been burning since 1884. In some Of the deeper metal mines at Butte. Mont, fires have been burning in the old timbers since 1889. In the Comstock vein in Nevada thousands of feet of tunnels which had been opened and timbered at great expense are being burned out
 The mining engineers of the bu. reau of mines have made a careful study of fires in mines, and have reached the conclusion that the intro duction of paratively inexpensive fire fighting appliances, the adoption of proper regulations and the institu- ton of reasonable system of fire drills may minimize fires and confine others to a brief period of time with little damage to life and property. The engineers of this bureau have had much success in combating mine fires through the use of the oxygen helmet This Is an apparatus that entirely protects the head. and through which air is furnished artifcially, thus en abling the wearer to explore the vii cinity of fire under conditions of smoke and gas that would render his approach otherwise impossible. By the use of such an apparatus num- Der of fires have been promptly extin. guished which would doubtless have spread and perhaps extended beyond control
 Chemistry. through the quick an. alysis of gases al frequent intervals