Summary
Commissioned by the Joint Coal Board, this film is a partial dramatisation demonstrating the risk of fire and the need for quick action to extinguish it. It shows how Norm, an untrained miner, fails to act quickly enough when smelling smoke. Smoke is seen filling the mine and Norm walks into it, he is overcome and collapses. Other men are shown looking for the source of the smoke, notifying the surface, where mines rescue is dispatched. Norm is rescued and the fire extinguished.
The need to act quickly is emphasized, the use of extinguishers is demonstrated, along with the use of powder and foam fire suppression chemicals. The risk of gas is shown to be mitigated with proper mine ventilation and water spray at the coalface. Injured miners are seen being carried on stretchers to a waiting ambulance. The film ends with a dramatisation of Norm re-living the experience the right way, where he acts quickly and the fire is extinguished quickly.
Special Notes/Achievements
This is the sixth of fifteen films in the Fitzgerald Collection.
Author: J Bird, 2023