No Injuries In Wednesday Fire At Oakman Coal Mine

OAKMAN, AL — Peabody Energy says there were no injuries in a fire Wednesday at its Shoal Creek Mine's southeast mining camp in Oakman.

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The company said in a media release that the fire involved void fill material utilized to stabilize the roof structure of the mine, which is located on Camp Creek Portal Road in Oakman.

In the update on Wednesday afternoon, the company said all mine personnel have now been safely evacuated from the mine and a team of firefighters was deployed to address the incident.

What's more, Peabody said at the time that team evacuated the mine, no flames were visible.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has been notified of the fire and the company says the agency is working with mine personnel to monitor the underground environment and determine a safe plan for mine re-entry.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Additionally, Peabody said it could not provide any estimates as to the impact of the fire on the Shoal Creek Mine or on the company's overall operations at this time.

At present, the mining operation at Shoal Creek employs approximately 419 workers and is a production-stage underground longwall metallurgical coal mine located 35 miles west of Birmingham, Alabama.

Working at depths of more than 1,000 feet underground, the mine extracts coal from the Mary Lee and Blue Creek coal seams, producing approximately 800,000 tons of coal last year.

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