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gear and SCBA donning to push, drag and carry fire rescue equipment and dummies over a set distance for time, a live interior firefighting exercise in the simulated mine, and an air management obstacle course. "Uncontrolled mine fires have yielded many fatalities over the years, and they will ultimately close an operation," mining extension agent Josh Caldwell said last fall. "Although fire brigades are above and beyond what the law requires by way of fire protection training, mine operators like Murray Energy realize the benefit to invest- ing time and resources into training these specialized groups. They have proven bene- ficial by extinguishing fires at Murray opera- tions in the past, thus saving the operation, workers' lives, their wages and benefits." It is hard not to notice that, while mine rescue facilities exist in the western coal- fields, those with a focus on mine fires and fire brigade training are lacking in that region as most are based east of the Mississippi. Teams and individuals, regardless of location, do have another option — the MSHA Academy in Beaver, about 90 min- utes from Charleston, which offers training to miners as well as its own federal inspec- tors on a myriad of skills. The 48,000-sq-ft facility on one end of the 80-acre academy grounds houses a simu- lated coal mine on the bottom level (designed as a four-entry room and pillar mine with four crosscuts) and a simulated metal/non-metal operation on the second floor. One end of the coal mine portion includes the burn room where officials set controlled fires to teach firefighting skills as well as emergency ventilation. A 100,000 cubic-ft-per-minute solid- state electronics-controlled mine fan can vary air volumes delivered throughout the entries and crosscuts in both simulated mines. Students are given simulated exercises that provide near actual mine emergency and firefighting experience unavailable any- where else in the world, according to facility officials. After participating in the simulation training, students leave the academy with a better idea of how to handle and perform in an actual mine emergency situation. WVU, which offers students skill building on temporary and permanent ventilation control construction while under appara- tus as well as how to measure dangerous gases, also has an outdoor firefighting area for drills that also has a controlled gas feed. f i r e f i g h t i n g c o n t i n u e d March 2014 www.coalage.com 41 Continued From Page 29... CA_pg26-29_V2_CA_pg46-47 3/11/14 9:22 AM Page 41