FF7 - Mines Rescue Service

THE MINES RESCUE SERVICE
An underground fire had filled Cadder Mine with flames and
smoke and 26 men were trapped. Three of these men made
The 1855 Coal Mines Act laid down the first safety standards. their own way from the incident but the rest were missing and
Further advances in these were often fuelled by terrible
in grave peril. There was no rescue service or apparatus at the
accidents. It was not until 1907 that a Royal Commission
pit. The first rescue attempts were made by untrained local
recommended the establishment of a Rescue Service. The
men with only caged canaries to warn and thus protect them
Coal Mines Act of 1911 then made this law.
from bad air. The nearest rescue centre was over 50 miles
away at Cowdenbeath.
Alexander Gilfillan (1878-1923) was a miner. When he was
20 years old he was rescued from a disastrous in-rush of water Alexander and the rest of the Bowhill team were alerted by
at Auldhouseburn, Bankhead Pit in Ayrshire, on the 11th of
the Cowdenbeath station and set off, under the leadership of
March 1898. Three other men drowned. Scotland’s first
David Stevenson, the centre’s superintendent at about 11
rescue station was still more than 10 years away from
o’clock at night. The arduous journey to Cadder took over
foundation and Alexander was saved by his fellow miners.
four hours as the only bridge over the river Forth was at
Perhaps the experience of his close escape encouraged
Stirling.
Alexander to join one of the earliest rescue brigades.
The Bowhill team first attempted to reach the missing men
The first central rescue station in Scotland opened at
using a Spirelmo B Smoke Helmet and bellows, but the air
Cowdenbeath, Fife, in 1910. It covered the Fife and
hoses were not long enough. Therefore the self-contained
Clackmannan areas serving 91 collieries and 26,000 men.
W.E.G. breathing apparatus was employed. This was the first
Alexander was a Deputy at Bowhill Colliery in Fife and a
time this apparatus was used in a real rescue situation in
member of the Fife and Clackmannan Mine Rescue Team
Scotland but tragically, due to the long delay in getting the
when the news came in of a disaster in Cadder Pit at
precious equipment to the scene, only one of the missing men
rd
Bishopbriggs on 3 August 1913.
was found alive.
Alexander Gilfillan
THE MINES RESCUE SERVICE
Michael McDonald was unconscious from carbon monoxide
supplied to the inlet pipes at the sides of the helmet through
poisoning. He would certainly have died if the rescue team had wire-armoured hosepipes from a set of bellows at the ‘Fresh Air
not been equipped with a Pulmotor Reviving Apparatus.
Base’. The double acting bellows were operated by hand or foot
McDonald was treated with the Pulmotor for three-quarters of
an hour before he showed signs of reviving and was then given
a short treatment every 100 yards or so until the team reached
the surface. The rescuers then set about the sad task of bringing
out the dead.
Alexander Gilfillan went on to serve his fellow men as a
member of the Royal Army Medical Corp in World War I,
1914-18. He was killed in an accident at Bowhill Colliery, 27th
January 1923.
Following the Cadder Pit disaster, rescue centres were set up at
Kilmarnock in 1913, Edinburgh in 1915 and Coatbridge in
1915. The latter provided rescue cover and training
opportunities for Lanarkshire including Cadder. Men travelling
50 miles to the rescue became a thing of the past.
Spirelmo Breathing Apparatus
Originally designed in 1911, this was a two man apparatus with
one man pumping air into the rescuer’s helmet. With a good air
supply a rescuer could work for long periods in bad air. Air was
Spirelmo Breathing Apparatus
THE MINES RESCUE SERVICE
and had a capacity of 75 litres per minute at 25 strokes per
visibility, and hearing. The rescuer could only retreat in one
minute. Extra air, or exhaled air, was released from a
direction and use the equipment over a short distance, about
spring-loaded valve in the crown of the helmet. Problems
105 feet (31.5 metres).
associated with this apparatus included a vulnerable hose, poor
W.E.G. Breathing Apparatus
This was designed by William E Garforth in 1906 and went out
of use in the 1950s. It was a self-contained regenerator type
apparatus where exhaled air went through a purifier and back to
a breathing bag to be re-inhaled along with fresh oxygen. Two
'Beards' reducing valves supplied the oxygen on demand.
Negative pressure created in the mask by breathing in caused
the oxygen to be delivered into the breathing space. The greater
the breathing rate the more oxygen was supplied. When fully
charged, the apparatus permited up to three hours of hard work
and weighed 32 lbs (14.5 kg). The oxygen canisters were
crescent shaped to fit comfortably around the waist.
Pulmotor Reviving Apparatus
Spirelmo Breathing Apparatus in use
The Pulmotor was automatic and the lungs were filled and
emptied with compressed air working through an injector. The
rate was governed by lung dimension. When the lungs were
filled, the injector began a suction action. This was reversed
automatically as soon as the lungs were emptied. Once the
casualty was revived, they could continue to receive oxygen
through the bag in the apparatus lid. The apparatus gave a
THE MINES RESCUE SERVICE
regular respiration rate for as long
as required. However the process
could be dangerous as the air
pressure could not be controlled.
THE MINES RESCUE SERVICE
Pulmotor Reviving Apparatus
Key to diagram
A
Inlet Hose
B
Bellows
C
Oxygen Cylinder
D
Reducing Valve
E
Outlet Hose
L
Reversing Valve
S
Suction Nozzle
V
Oxygen Valve

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