DAHLGREN – Five workers at the Hamilton County Coal, LLC plant in Dahlgren were sent to the hospital for smoke inhalation following a fire there Saturday night.
According to the McLeansboro Fire Department, firefighters received a call about two floors of a building being on fire at 6:20 p.m. It’s believed the fire started when some work with a torch was being done and caught something on fire.
Fire departments from Dahlgren, Wayne City, Jefferson County and Mt. Vernon were called in to help battle the fire. Some plant workers also helped fight the fire. Hamilton County Ambulance was also called to the scene.
It took about two and a half hours to put the fire out.
This wasn’t the only incident to happen at the plant Saturday.
Just after 2 a.m., a Hamilton County Coal, LLC employee was fatally injured as a result of a roof fall in the area where the employee was in the process of installing supplemental roof support.
Co-workers reached the employee and attempted resuscitation while transporting him to the surface of the mine. Unfortunately, the employee was pronounced dead at 3:13 a.m. at Hamilton Memorial Hospital in McLeansboro.
According to Jay Emery, General Manager of Operations at Hamilton County Coal, LLC, appropriate state and federal agencies were notified of the accident, and investigations by those agencies and Hamilton County Coal, LLC are ongoing.
