The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-05-25
ENORMOUS LOSS
OF LIFE NEEDLESS
Many Mine Disasters Might Have Been
Averted Says Herbert M. Wilson
In Public Address.

New York, May 25 Failure to ap.
preciate the seriousness Of mine fires
and a lack of adequate fire protection
have resulted in the loss of hundreds
of lives and the destruction of millions
OF dollars worth of property in the
past few years, according to state
ment made at 4the annual meeting OF
the National Fire Protection associa-
ton this morning by Herbert w. Will
son, chief engineer of the federal bu-
reau Of mines. Mr.. Wilson went far
ther and declared that two of the
most serious disasters in coal mines in
the last two years, one at Cherry, ILL.,,
in which 1852 lives We're lost and the
other at the Pancoast mine, near Seran-
ton, Pa. in which seventy-four lives
We're lost, originated from trivial causes
and ought to have been quickly ex.
tinguished without the sacrifice of
human life.
"The contact of several bales of hay
with a blazing torch or an open miners
lamp" said Mr. Wilson, caused the
Cherry mine disaster with its great
loss Of life and total cost Of one
million dollars, Of which $4,000 day
was spent in direct fire lighting for
several days.
"The fire In the Pancoast mine killed
seventy four miners, left forty five
widows and 1877 dependent orphans. This
fire is known to have started in an un-
derground room presumably from some
oil-soaked waste. The fire was not
thought serious until it had been
burning 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., $l,000,000 has been spent in
fighting a fire in a metal mine To-day
fires are raging in coal and metal mines
in various parts of the country. Some
Of them have gotten beyond control,
and have been burning for many years,
deyouring hundreds OF thousands of tons
Of coal and miles Of mine galleries. One
mine fire near Carbonate, Pa, has
burned out such vast area of anthra-
cite coal in the last ten years as to
result in a subsistence OF the surface
and destruction of surface property
Near Summit Hill, Pa, a fire which
has been burning fifty-one years is es-
timated to have destroyed S25,000000
worth of coal Near Jobs, Ohio, a
tract Of coal valued at several million
dollars, has been burning since 1884
In some of the deeper metal mines at
Butte, Mont, fires have been burning
in the old mine timbers since 1880 In
the Comstock vein in Nevada, thousands
OF feet of tunnels which had been open
cd and timbered at great expense are
being burned out
"The mining engineers of the bu
reau OF mines made a careful study of
fires in mines. and have reached the
conclusion that the introduction Of
inexpensive fire fighting
appliances, the adoption Of proper regu
Iations and the institution of rea-
sonable system of fire drills may min
mize fires and confine Others to brief
period of time with little damage to
life and property The engineers of
this bureau have had much success i'll
mine fires through the use
II the oxygen helmet This is an APP
,aratus that entirely protects the head, |
md through which air is furnished arti
icially, thus enabling the wearer to
EXPLORE the vicinity of a fire under con-
litions of smoke and gas that would
.ender his approach otherwise impos-
iible. BY the use of such an apparatus /
/ number of fires have been promptly +
,xtinguished which would doubtless I
nave spread and perhaps extended be- /
youd control. Chemistry, through the I
luclS analysis of gases at frequent in /
ervals in the neighborhood of the fire I
las proven most useful adjunct in /
lighting fires, 1t seems almost unnec-
ssary to call attention to the necessity F
II providing at each mine ample stor-
.ge of water properly conveyed in pro-
ected pipes to possible danger points.
he desirability Of using larger amounts
4 fire proof material in place of wood
a mine timbering or wooden doors,
he proper disposal of waste fire proof
ways and air shafts and the use
# fire proof material as far as possible
n all surface structures within fifty
o 100 feet of the main opening to the
nine"