Annual Report,2009 - Directorate General of Mines Safety

DGMS Annual Report, 2009
No. DGMS (Tech)/Circular No./ 03 Dhanbad, Dated – 6 th February, 2009
To,
Owner/Agent/Manager of Coal Mines.
Sub :- Qualitative and Quantitative assessment of Fire Fighting Equipment.
Sir,
It is well known fact that air, water and fire are primary sources of lives on the
earth but at the same time if the natural equilibrium of any one is disturbed then it
leads to disaster and irreparable damages. Fire hazards amongst all the three are very
common in the industrial as well as domestic fields.
Fire is coal mines is one of the most common hazards that lead to disasters,
accidents loss of valuable lives and damages to properties. Spontaneous heating and
combustion in coal is one of the major sources of fires not only in belowground
workings but also in opencast mines. Bench fire in coal mine is very common apart
from dump fire.
Increased mechanization and use of large number of machines of higher
capacities have posed another fire threats and the incidences of fires in such
machinery and installations have increased. One of the major contributors to fire is the
use of electricity at higher operating voltages. The fire fighting technologies and fire
suppression system have advanced further which are more fast and effective to deal
with fires either on surface or belowground including heavy earth moving machinery.
A few of such technology is backpacked and handheld High Pressure Water Mist cum
CAFs based fire fighting system which is applicable to quench not only oil fires but
even electrical fires upto 36 KV line. A live demonstration of this product was given
in DGMS recently in the pressure of Officials from Coal Mining Industry, Scientist
from CIMFR, Indian School of Mines and other Fire Fighting Equipment
manufactures as per EN3-7 Standard B233.135 liters of diesel and 25 Liters Petrol
were ignited for 60 seconds to grow the fire and flames upto its maximum intensity
and then the handheld High Pressure Water Mist cum CAFs based fire fighting system
was operated and applied on the fire blazing upto 30 feet height. The fire was
completely quenched within 12 second which appeared to be miraculous to everyone
witnessing the demonstration. Similarly, the CAFs were also applied on live electrical
wires/fire which was also quenched without any difficulty.
High Pressure Water Mist cum CAFs based fire fighting system is highly
effective and fast in quenching and controlling fires of varying magnitudes. A survey
was recently conducted in few coal mines and installations to identify the risk of fire
areas and installation based on quantitative assessment of sources of fires and its
magnitude of damage.
The survey revealed that the following places, machinery and installation
should be provided with at least the required number of High Pressure Water Mist
cum CAFs based Fire Fighting System or such other equivalent type or even better.
Sl.
No.
Location Installation/Equipment Fire
Extinguisher’s
Requirement
155