The Blast in Centralia No. 5

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On the day of March 25, 1947 marks a very important incident in the state of Illinois. It was a devastating day for Centralia. On this day, one hundred and eleven coal miners woke up to attend their job at the coal mine just as any other day. They had no idea they would never return home to their families. March 25, 1947 is the day 111 coal miners were killed during their routine daily duties at the Centralia Coal Mine. There was a massive explosion that changed the city of Centralia forever. The cause of the massive explosion was due to a buildup of coal dust. The explosion was one hundred percent preventable if the necessary actions were taken in to affect beforehand. The conditions of the coal mine was deadly. There were reports of miners coughing up clumps of coal dust. There were also reports that cakes of coal dust were plastered to the walls of the mines. (Stillman, 2010) Governor Dwight Green appointed both Robert Medill and Driscoll Scanlan in the same year. Scanlan was recommended to Green by his state representative. There were several reports from Scanlan that the Centralia Mine No. 5 was highly explosive. (U.S. Mine Rescue Association, 2012) The reason the mine was highly explosive was because of the coal dust buildup. Two year before the presence of the explosion, Frank Perez, who was a mine inspector from the U.S. Bureau of Mines, conducted a federal inspection of Centralia Mine. That same year, Scanlan told Prudent, who was the director of state mining board that he had to shut down the mine because the mine hand had not been cleaned. He also suggested that the company use sprinkler on the roads to help keep the coal dust down. The miners conducted a rotation where they worked four days and cleaned for three days. Eventually, the rotation came to an end. Later, Scalan performed another inspection on the mine, and he found the harsh conditions had

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