Burngrange mining disaster

[2] Burngrange Shale Mine was situated 16 miles south-west of Edinburgh in the Parish of West Calder in the County of Westlothian.

Firedamp was ignited by an open acetylene cap lamp and the initial explosion started fires which spread rapidly.

On his way outbye, he again met the fireman, who said he had been trying to improve the atmospheric conditions in the inbye section by a partial opening of some brattice screen doors, but this step was of no avail.

Underground, they met the overman, Brown, who pleaded for the use of the two sets of Proto-Apparatus, so that he and another trained member of the Burngrange Mines Rescue Team could make another attempt to get into the workings beyond No.

At 11.15 pm under the captaincy of Brown a fresh team wearing goggles and using a life-line again attempted to reach the men but were forced to return as the temperature was very high and the smoke so dense that their lights could not be seen.

The work of firefighting continued for four days and it was not until the night of 13th/14th January, that it was considered practicable to send a rescue team beyond the fire area.

"[5] The Scotsman newspaper reported on 30 January 1948: "The Carnegie Hero Fund Trustees at Dunfermline yesterday awarded an honorary certificate and grants of £25 and £15 respectively to David Brown, mine oversman, 82 Parkhead Crescent, and James M'Arthur, shaleminer, 12 Kirkgate, both of West Calder, Midlothian, who on January 10, 1947, attempted to rescue a number of workmen who had been trapped following an explosion in a colliery at West Calder.