Bounces in mine like being inside an explosion
Whatever you call them, miners in Utah's coal country are well aware of the seismic activity that takes place deep below the Earth's surface, and they know the damage it can cause.
"Anybody's that's worked around these mines has experienced bounces, but to say that any of us have ever experienced something of this magnitude, I don't think so," said Jeff Palmer, emergency preparedness manager for UtahAmerican Energy Inc., which manages the Crandall Canyon Mine.
Palmer should have been deep inside the mine last Thursday, when a 1.6 magnitude bounce rocked a section being cleared by rescue workers to reach six men trapped in Crandall Canyon for the past two weeks.
An unreliable truck, however, delayed Palmer from leading four members of his rescue team into the mine for a shift change. So instead of being one of the injured, Palmer rushed into the section of the mine and began tending to those hurt by the bounce.
In the five to eight minutes it took Palmer and another man to reach the section impacted by the bounce, most of the dust had already cleared. And what Palmer saw was chaos, men buried beneath piles of coal that had exploded from square pillars and the ribs (the walls) of the mine.
Dale Black, Brandon Kimber and Gary Jensen, two local coal miners and a federal mine safety inspector, died Thursday night. Six others were injured.
Bounces can be scary
Along with the creaks and groans, mountain bounces are just another thing to get used to when working deep below the surface. Usually, they're small, not even worth noticing, really.
Other times, they're much more significant, throwing furniture-size pieces of coal and breaking heavy machinery in half.
"It's like being inside something that's exploding," said Palmer, a 33-year coal miner. "It kind of gives you a 'what's going on."'
Terry Oviatt, a section supervisor at the Deer Creek Mine, likened the bounces to standing in front of a big bundle of dynamite. The concussion starts in your feet and travels throughout your entire body, he said.
"It scares the s--- out of you," Oviatt said.
Palmer can't remember the first bounce he ever felt underground, but he remembers one from 1984 that left him badly injured. He was pulled from the mine with a face "tattooed with coal dust" that had to be sanded off in a painful process.
Recent comments
My father retired from the coal mines of Virginia and my brother...
Nena | Aug. 25, 2007 at 5:31 p.m.
I am the daughter and granddaughter of coal miners. My husband was...
Nancy | Aug. 21, 2007 at 8:04 p.m.
YOU ARE MY HERO JEFF PALMER
L | Aug. 21, 2007 at 3:00 p.m.
