110 Mr Bald o?j the Fires that take place in Collieries. 



Bumber of years ; yet, at the present time, when the coal-rub- 

 bish is allowed to lie in heaps of considerable thickness below 

 ground, the incipient ignition is detected, and the rubbish has 

 either to be drawn up the shaft, or spread very thin along the 

 pavement of the mines. Great caution is daily necessary there, 

 to prevent spontaneous ignition, which is soon discovered by a 

 peculiar smell (well known to the miners), diffusing itself through 

 the workings. 



The Alloa Colliery took fire about twenty-four years ago, in 

 the nine feet coal at CoUyland. This was an accidental fire, oc- 

 casioned by a candle igniting dry rotten prop-wood, whidi was 

 in an old part of the mines, and of the nature of touchwood. 

 It took place while I was traversing the wastes with my as- 

 sistant. We made a very narrow escape from suffocation, as 

 the ignition took place rapidly, and the smoke ascended the pit 

 very soon after we came to the surface. Every effort was made 

 to extinguish the fire, by closing up the pits and preventing the 

 access of the air, but all attempts were ineffectual, and the burn- 

 ing continued for upwards of eighteen months. 



As it was necessary to carry on the colliery, the miners were 

 employed in a coal immediately above that which was burning ; 

 but it frequently happened, that, while they were working, and 

 while their candles shewed no sign of bad or vitiated air, they 

 dropped down lifeless, and had to be carried to the fresh air 

 ere they revived. This was an anomaly as to the test of pure 

 air familiar to the miners, and shews that tliis vitiated air arising 

 from the burning, when mixed with the common air of the mine, 

 will support the flame of a candle, but not animal life. This 

 circumstance indicates what extreme caution is necessary when 

 men enter mines where a fire exists, as their situation, in this 

 case, is extremely dangerous, and therefore no person ought to 

 enter such a mine alone, or even with a single assistant. A 

 number should always go together, and keep at a short distance 

 from each other, in order that immediate assistance may be given 

 to the front men in case they drop down. In this colliery, I 

 passed through a quantity of this deleterious air, not knowing 

 that it was there. I had only one asastant, and w€ very nar- 

 rowly escaped. Upon oiu* coming to the surface, I found no 

 bod effects ; my assistant, however, suffered much, but recover- 



