Directorate General of Mines Safety

DGMS (Tech) Circular No.03 Dhanbad, Dated 06.02.2009

To
The Owners, Agents & Managers of Coal Mines

Sub. : Qualitative and Quantitative assessment of Fire Fighting

Equipment.

Sir,
It is well known fact that air, water and fire are the primary sources of lives on
the earth but at the same time if the natural equilibrium of anyone 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 in 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. Once of the major contributors to
fire is the use of electricity at higher operating voltages. The fire fighting
technologies and fire suppression systems have advanced further which are
more fast and effective to deal with fires either on surface of 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 demo station of this product was given
in DGMS recently in the presence of Officials from Coal Mining Industry,
Scientists from CIMFR, Indian School of Mines and other Fire Fighting
Equipment manufacturers as per EN3-7 Standard B233, 135 liters of diesel
and 25 Liters of 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
seconds 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 installations
should be provided with at the least the required number of High Pressure
Water Mist cum CAFs based Fire Fighting System or such other equivalent
type or even better

Fire
Installation
SI. Location Extinguisher's Requirement
Equipment
Size
1 Surface 10 Liters
Electrical Sub station 33 KV 06
Installation
Electrical Sub station I I KV 10 Liters 04
Electrical Sub station 550/440V 10 Liters 04
Belt Conveyor Drive Head 10 Liters 02
Tail End Drum 10 Liters 01
Transfer Point 10 Liters 01
Belt Tensioning 10 Liters
01
Point/Devices
Belt Line where Gradient changes 10 Liters 01
Haulage Engine Room 10 Liters 01
Colliery Store 10 Liters 02
10 Liters 04
Workshop
50 Liters 02
Ventilation Fan 10 Liters 01
Emergency Control Room 10 Liters 05
Explosive Van 10 Liters 02
2 Open Cast 50 Liters 01
Dragline
Mines 10 Liters 06
Electrical Shovel 10 Liters 04
Electrical Drills 10 Liters 02
 Dumper 10 Liters 02
Diesel Tankers 10 Liters 02
Diesel Excavator 10 Liters 02
Dozer 10 Liters 01
Grader 10 Liters 01
3 Below Ground Electrical Sub Station 10 Liters 02
Haulage Room 10 Liters 01
Belt Conveyor Drive 10 Liters
02
Head
Tail End Drum 10 Liters 01
Transfer point 10 Liters 01
Belt Tensioning 10 Liters
01
Point/Devices
Belt Line where 10 Liters
01
Gradient Changes
Section Store 10 Liters 02
Hydraulic Drill 10 Liters 01
Pump House 10 Liters 01
10 Liters 01
UG Tippler
01
Load Haul Dumper (LHD) 10 Liters
02
Side Discharge Loader
Continuous Miner 02

The above estimate is based on the normal installations and I maco1hinery

used in mines which may change due to extra large capacity machines
installation.

It is, therefore recommended to implement the above scheme and regularly

update the fire fighting plan maintained at the mine.

Yours faithfully
Director General of Mines Safety