HOMEPAGE PERSONAL PROFILE HISTORICAL REVIEW HOWEBRIDGE MRS BOOTHSTOWN MRS PURPOSE OF A MRS MOBILE WINDING ENGINE AMPUTATION KIT OFFICERS AND STAFF SELECTION OF RESCUEMEN BREATHING APP PRIME FEATURES OF BA GENERAL CONDUCT OXYGEN RESUSCITATORS HEAT AND HUMIDITY RESCUE COMMS CANARIES AND LAMPS SELF RESCUERS SEFA BREATHING APPARATUS PROTO BREATHING APPARATUS AERORLOX BREATHING APPARATUS SALVUS BREATHING APPARATUS SAVOX BREATHING APPARATUS MINOX BREATHING APPARATUS ANTIPOYS TUBE APPARATUS

The Lancashire Mines Rescue Service HEAT AND HUMIDITY. Photograph on left shows Boothtown No.2 Gallery. In the foreground are straight wooden props supporting wooden split bars. To the rear, the support changes to 8 feet by 7 feet, lined, steel arches. It was this section that was converted into a "Hot and Humid Chamber". Photograph on right shows a view of Boothstown No.2. Observation Hall. Steps leading up to the flat roof can be seen. The teams would dress with their apparatus in this Hall and walk around, including on the flat roof for the first 15 minutes before entering the smoke filled training galleries. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ HEAT AND HUMIDITY. Hot and humid atmospheres have always been a problem for underground rescue workers, particularly in stagnant conditions. Generally, the deeper the mine, the hotter the conditions and when this is further complicated due to the presence of open fires and spontaneous combustion, the underground environment can become a serious problem. Body temperature is regulated, in one way by the evaporation of sweat from the surface of the skin, but if the air is already saturated with moisture, then little or no evaporation takes place and therefore no cooling of the body results. Accordingly body temperature rises and serious consequences can occur, even unconsciousness and death if suitable precautions are not taken. In 1949, a team from the Boothstown Station was sent, under oxygen, down an inclined roadway to examine a sandbag stopping. The temperature was high and the humidity was something approaching 100 per cent. All members of the team soon felt the effects of the conditions when one man collapsed with heat exhaustion. He was placed onto a stretcher but the remaining men could only travel a short distance before becoming totally exhausted themselves. The standby team was sent in immediately and one of this team also collapsed. Over a period of many hours and a succession of teams, both men, now dead, having now lost control of their noseclip and mouthpiece, were brought out to the fresh air base. Following that incident at Lyme Colliery, a Study in hot and humid conditions produced a set of rules for rescue teams working in those situations. A Chart was produced, showing the "Safe Working Periods" for varying degrees of temperature and humidity. The safety precautions adopted by underground rescue workers also included stripping down to a minimum of light clothing and working only for the ‘safe working periods’, indicated by the Chart, carried by the team captain. A ‘whirling type’ hygrometer was now an essential part of the team’s equipment and the ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ bulb temperatures were regularly checked. In 1953, it was also decided that every Rescue Station should have a "Hot and Humid Chamber". At Boothstown, this was constructed in the arched section of No. 2. Gallery. The chamber was 10 metres in length and all rescuemen practised for the last hour of a routine gallery exercise, twice each year in temperatures of 95 deg. F (dry bulb) and 80 deg F (wet bulb) as indicated on a hygrometer. The Safe Working Period indicated by the Chart for these temperature readings was 60 minutes. Whilst in the hot and humid conditions, the rescuemen performed a series of set tasks that were only moderately severe and were under observation for the whole time. It was not possible to acclimatize men to hot and humid conditions in so short a time, but at least it provided the opportunity for them to experience the symptoms of bodily and mental strain that goes with that type of environment. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------