History of coal miners inventiveness in clothing their families. Mining has always been dangerous, because of methane gas explosions, roof cave-ins, and the difficulty of mines rescue. The worst single disaster in British coal mining history was at Senghenydd in the South Wales coalfield. On the morning of 14 October 1913 an explosion and subsequent fire killed 436 men and boys. It followed a series of many extensive Mining accidents such as The Oaks explosion of 1866 and the Hartley Colliery Disaster of 1862. Most of the explosions were caused by firedamp ignitions followed by coal dust explosions. Deaths were mainly caused by carbon
Hospital Hill fire miles away because of the gas fire on Hospital Hill. Although the fire at the borehead was not a direct threat to the town of Roma, there was a fear that a nearby gasometer, which stored the town's supply of gas, would ignite. When gasometers are full, excess gas must be allowed to escape as a safety measure. The Roma gasometer was full and the excess gas was venting only 250 feet from the fire. If the venting gas came into contact with the flames it would have ignited and caused the entire gasometer to explode. Decisive action was needed