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III IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 999 Des~~adc~ Mine~~T ~. fire still burning'~s~ By HEATHER A. RESZ 9keff vvriker ass than siz weeks after returnYng from a three and one-half month idle petiod,the Deserado Mine near Rangely hoe stopped mining coal once again. This time the mine closed its doors due to a Gre that erupted Wedneadiiy, Jan. 31 between 2:30 and 3 p.m. Ned Leonard is manager of communications at(d govern- mental affairs for Western Fuels Associations, the company that awns Deserado. _ Leonard said the fire began Wednesday afternoon in the 'what aappeaea was a cretq waa" in that area of tlli• mitts 1,+6 perform welding," Leonard said. "Welding crews typically have firefighting equipment with them. Thay tried to fight the lire using-foam sad water. They couldn't dowse it so they aban- doned the mine." He said welding crews also carry equipment to check for flammable gaiies Tike methane and carbon diotide. The fire began when the weld• ing crew ignited an undetected' pocket of methane gas, he said. Although there were between 65 end 70 people working underground at the time the fire started, no one wen igjured and ell employees have been accounted for. Deserado Mine re-opened its doors in Novemher with a farce reduced from 250 a little more than a year ago to 128 employ- eestoday. With the fire still burning is the mine, mine owners aadeffi- cials from the Mine Safety and Health Administration now have two options, I.egg@id said. ground-]t~,q try is iia coal. you basioally have two optione,'"ftir said. "You~en either try to fight the lire at the face using foam fo suppress 3t. If you are unable to do that, then what you are looking at is sealing the mine to starve the fire of orygeu." IC the fire is small it may be. necessary to seal only the small portion o[ the mine where ,the P1e~ue gee FHtE on page 2. ~ ~