Production halted at Emerald Mine for fire
Notice: Undefined variable: article_ad_placement3 in /usr/web/cs-washington.ogdennews.com/wp-content/themes/News_Core_2023_WashCluster/single.php on line 128
WAYNESBURG – Production was halted at the Emerald Mine Friday morning after a small fire was detected in an electrical transformer underground.
The fire was promptly extinguished by mine employees and no one was injured, said Ted Pile, spokesman for Emerald Coal Resources. The fire was detected shortly before 6 a.m. and an evacuation of the mine began immediately, he said.
Proper authorities were contacted and the Mine Safety and Health Administration subsequently issued an order to close the mine to give state and MSHA inspectors and mine personnel time to investigate the cause of the fire and complete an inspection of the mine.
It is believed a transformer caught fire because of an unforeseen malfunction in the electrical power center, Pile said.
The company does not expect an extended work outage. The mine was conducting pre-shifted inspections Friday afternoon and expected the mine to restart Friday evening.