Remember when Killy Pit exploded ?? I certainly do..Thirty Six years ago yesterday.. Having just been appointed in charge the Newcastle Mines Rescue Station, I was summoned there to assist around 8am and departed 16 hours later for a few hours rest. The main photo, taken by Brian Andrews (I was too busy underground) shows the smoke from the ensuing fire, pouring from the damaged fan and second photo, the efforts to cap the shaft and starve the fire of oxygen. The final photo is of some of us who were involved. After the fire was subdued, Mines Rescue Teams in breathing apparatus re-entered the mine over a period of six month to make all safe for production to resume.. At the same time we also we also dealt with a major underground fire at at Burwood Colliery (there on and off for eight months) and a gas pollution incident at Lambton B Colliery.. All in all a very busy and exciting introduction to the my return to the Newcastle Coalfield.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 02:28:25 +0000