The fire at Michael Colliery, Fife, on 9th September, 1967 caused 9
fatalities (which would have been much greater had men inbye not been
quickly warned of the danger). There were two relevant factors in the
cause of the fire. One was spontaneous combustion of the coal seam.
The other was the new use of polyurethane foam to spray the road sides
to prevent the ingress of air which initiates spontaneous combustion.
The use of such an inflammable material underground is surprising, but
it was intended to be sprayed in thin layers and then covered with a
fire retardent coating. It has been suggested that in fact it was
sprayed thickly without the coating, thus generating heat as it set.
The result was that the foam caught fire generating thick and toxic
smoke. Polyurethane foam was never used again underground and the
incident accelerated the introduction of self rescuers.
See Command Report 3657 by H. S. Stephenson.
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