BENWOOD, W.Va. — Eleven fire departments in Marshall and Ohio Counties responded to a blaze at the Ohio County mine Sunday evening. The fire was situated in the operation’s belt line and coal house, both posed difficult challenges to fire fighters.
“There was actually the belt line and the coal house had some fire as well. Once they got the belt line out, they focused on the coal house,” said Tom Hart, Emergency Services Director for Marshall County.
It took about an hour to get it under control and another hour to get it out completely. The rubber belt was on fire along with some of the coal being hauled on the belt. All of this was on a narrow platform 40 feet in the air. Smoke from the fire was visible for miles around.
“It did take a little more effort due to the material and the location. It was over 40 feet in the air and they did have to drag a lot of hose line just to be able to put the fire out,” he said.
Fire crews had a couple of hydrants to help with the water supply, but also just in case had a tanker crew on standby. According to Hart it took several hundred feet of hose and the fire men had to navigate on a narrow catwalk along the beltline to get up to the fire.
It’s not the first time the fire crews in that part of the state have deal with fires around a coal mine. According to Hart experience and training helped get this one under control rather quickly with nobody hurt.
A cause for the fire remains under investigation.