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1111111111111111111 <br />Mathews, Dan <br />From: Mathews, Dan <br />Sent: Friday, December 07, 2001 10:03 AM <br />To: Brown, Sandy; Berry, David; Renner, Steve; Barton, John <br />Subject: some follow-up information on the roadside fire incident <br />After writing up my observations yes rday, and thinking about R a little, there were a couple of things that didn't make <br />sense to me. I talked to Dave Jenks, of Stover Associates, who was on the scene with Tonya Hammond and MSHA. I <br />was curious regarding what might havercaused the crack behind the retaining wall above the portal, and how that related <br />to the venting of methane. Dave JenK~ac said that the measurementskesting that MSHA did at the crack when it was open <br />indicated that there was no air exchange between themine and outside air via the crack. He said the crack was 10 to 15 <br />feet deep, but the backfill packed into the mine when it was sealed had not settled or cracked, and so the crack did not <br />extend into the open workings. Dave said he thought the crack had probably been there for a long time. Possibly so, but it <br />seems like 1 (or someone over the years) would have noticed a crack 15 feet long by 12 inches wide by 15 feet deep. <br />Dave's observations and what he related regarding the MSHA inspection of the crack don't seem to square with what <br />Steve Renner described as "vigorous venting" apparently through the crack, in the phone message he had left for me on <br />Tuesday. I'll talk to Steve when he gets back to Junction, and we'll follow up with MSHA to try to make sense of this. <br />Also, Dave clarified that a contractor had been cutting on the metal shaft frame structure on Sunday, December 2, so what <br />I had indicated in my prior report (that cutting had not been done for a couple weeks) was wrong. Dave said that MSHA <br />had issued a citation to the contractor for failure to make the proper checks before cutting with a torch. <br />/Jg K a ~ ~ ~-t CB (0 ~ ~ ( ~ h.~c~--f <br />~~e l~,n e-' ~ d1L7+,r. J<e' ~ G•Yt ~ ti `~o'^'~ ~ /~`r / <br />a~~l ~ ~` ~4 ~ a4 tel."~/r v~~ <br />-~ ~,-~ v~~-~ ~, a~-ll 4, , ~~~ .~ ..-~ ate-- ~e <br />~/~ vlc -- <br />