1954 — Nov 13, Jamison Coal Co. Mine No. 9 gas and dust explosion, Farmington, WV– 16

— 16 NFPA. “Large Loss Fires of 1954.” Quarterly, Vol. 48, No. 3, Jan 1955, p. 320.
— 16 National Fire Protection Assoc. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003).
— 16 NIOSH, CDC. Mining Disasters (Incidents with 5 or more Fatalities). 2-26-2013 update.
— 16 WV Office of Miners’ Health Safety and Training. WV Mine Disasters 1884 to Present

Narrative Information

Bureau of Mines: “A gas and dust explosion followed by a series of mine fires and explosions occurred in the No.9 mine, Jamison Coal and Coke Company, near Farmington, West Virginia, about 1:45 p.m., Saturday, November 13, 1954, and caused the death of 16 persons. Two of the seventeen men in the mine at the time escaped injury and made their way to the surface unaided; 12 were killed instantly by burns and violence; and 3, who lived for perhaps 90 minutes after the initial explosion but made no attempt to erect a barricade, died from the effects of afterdamp. The sixteenth victim, who was employed as a lampman in a room adjacent to the ma-shaft portal, was killed instantly when struck by a steel structural member dislodged by the explosion…. [p1]

“Bureau of Mines investigators believe that the initial explosion originated in 4 left section of 2 north when an explosive mixture of methane-air was ignited by blasting in a nonpermissible manner and that the explosion was propagated by methane and coal dust. Forces of the first explosion were the greatest; this was the only one that was recorded by a seismograph at the University of West Virginia in Morgantown, about 17 air-miles distant. The duration of the tremor is recorded as 17 seconds. Evidence of forces of this explosion extended to the surface
through the ma shaft, No. 2 fan shaft, the slope, and Plum Run borehole, and windows were broken and pictures jarred from the walls in houses on the surface in Plum Run…. [p2]

“A total of 4113 men was employed; 355 of them worked underground 3 shifts a day and produced an average of 6,000 tons of coal daily. Most of the 88 surface employees were engaged in construction work. Production for the year 1954 was 970,415 tons of coal. The last Federal inspection of this mine prior to the disaster was made October 6, 8, 11-14, and 18-20, 1954….[p.3]

“The mine is classed gassy by the West Virginia Department of Mines and by the Bureau of Mines. Fire bosses, who traveled by electrically driven jeeps from one working section to another, made preshift examinations for gas and other hazards only on Sunday evenings and
at similar times prior to the resumption of operations following a shutdown of more than 4 hours; other preshift examinations for succeeding shifts were made on shift by the section foremen during their regular tour of duty. Onshift and weekly examinations for gas and other hazards
were made by fire bosses, section foremen, assistant foremen, and the general mine foreman; however, the finding of gas that was removed during the same work shift, which occurred quite frequently in the 2 north section was seldom included in the daily mine record book., Also, at the
time of the last Federal inspection the records indicated that the return airways of some sections were not examined for intervals of as much as 2 weeks.

“Many falls were in the return airways before the explosion, and interrogation of employees revealed that perhaps only 1 and certainly not more than 2 of the multiple returns were traveled
during such examinations, consequently many of these falls could not have been examined for gas at such times. Operators of electrical face equipment were instructed to make suitable tests for gas, but testimony submitted indicated that tests for gas were not always made immediately
before electrical equipment was taken to the working faces. Tests made with a permissible flame safety lamp on pillar falls in active pillar sections during the October 1954 inspection did not indicate any accumulation of methane. Methane detected in one place in 3 north entries, a development section, by the section foreman when making a routine examination during this Federal inspection, was removed promptly by repairing the line brattice. No one was working in the place at the time, and it was the last working place on the air split. Numerous active and inactive gas and oil wells penetrated the coal bed in active and worked-out areas of the mine (and in virgin territory adjacent thereto); however. the mine map indicated that suitable blocks of coal
were left around the wells. Tests made with W-8 methane detectors and air measurements made in split returns and at bottom of upset air shafts by mine officials on November 13, 1954, and completed shortly before the explosion occurred, indicated normal air quantities and percentages of methane at these locations…. [p9]

“Appendix A, Victims of Explosion, No. 9 Mine, Jamison Coal and Coke Company Nov 13, 1954

George C. Alberts…
Russell E. Morris…
Harry C. Dunmire…
Carrol Ice…
Charles Korsh, Jr. …
Louis L. Beafore…
Nick Koverbasich…
Charles L. Fluharty…
Robert L. Sanders…
Harry Floyd, Sr. …
Matt Means…
Lonnie Hartzell…
Clyde R. Keener…
Joe Opyoke…
Joe Gregor…
Howard Jenkins…Killed on surface.” [p. 54]

(Bureau of Mines. Final Report on Major Explosion and fire Disaster, No. 9 Mine, Jamison Coal and Coke Company, Farmington, Marion County, West Virginia, November 13, 1954.)

National Fire Protection Association, 1955: “Coal Mine. Nov. 13, Farmington, W. Va. Pittsburgh Consolidated Coal Co. over $250,000, 16 killed.

“…While a maintenance crew was at work about a mile and a quarter from the shaft entrance a violent explosion oc¬curred that trapped and killed the 15 men in the crew, The other fatality involved a man standing in the fan house at the sur¬face. He was killed by falling debris when the fan house was collapsed by the explosion. The mine has been sealed since the fire broke out, preventing investigation of the cause and extent of damage.” (National Fire Protection Association. “Large Loss Fires of 1954.” Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association, Vol. 48, No. 3, Jan 1955, p. 320 within pp. 201-326.)

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health: “11/13/1954…Jamison No. 9…Farmington, WV…16 [dead]…Coal…Explosion.” (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Mining Safety and Health Research.. Mining Disasters (Incidents with 5 or more Fatalities). NIOSH, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2-26-2013 update.)

Sources

Bureau of Mines. Final Report on Major Explosion and fire Disaster, No. 9 Mine, Jamison Coal and Coke Company, Farmington, Marion County, West Virginia, November 13, 1954. Morgantown, WV: Bureau of Mines Health and Safety District C, United States Department of the Interior, 1954. Accessed 4-28-2023 at: https://usminedisasters.miningquiz.com/saxsewell/Jamison_1954.pdf

National Fire Protection Association. “Large Loss Fires of 1954.” Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association, Vol. 48, No. 3, Jan 1955, pp. 201-326.

National Fire Protection Association. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003). (Email attachment to B. W. Blanchard from Jacob Ratliff, NFPA Archivist/Taxonomy Librarian, 7-8-2013.)

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Mining Safety and Health Research.. Mining Disasters (Incidents with 5 or more Fatalities). NIOSH, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2-26-2013 update. Accessed at: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/statistics/disall.htm
and http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/statistics/content/allminingdisasters.html

West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health Safety and Training. WV Mine Disasters 1884 to Present. MHS&T, October 9, 2008 update. At: http://www.wvminesafety.org/disaster.htm