Published: November 06, 2007 10:05 pm         

Local company ships first W.Va. mine shelter

On Tuesday, the first underground rescue chamber that will be used in a West Virginia mine was shipped from A.L. Lee Corp.’s manufacturing facility in Mabscott.

In the event of a mining accident, the chamber is designed to provide a safe haven for trapped coal miners, giving rescuers four days to reach them.

The first chamber is destined for the Sentinel Mine in Philippi, an underground operation belonging to International Coal Group.

ICG owns the Sago Mine where 12 miners were killed on Jan. 2, 2006 — a disaster that initiated state and federal efforts to make underground mining safer. One of the products of those efforts was the state legislation earlier this year requiring mines to have rescue chambers.

“That day at Sago is really the background for everything we do here,” A.L. Lee president Leonard Urtso said.

Building the rescue chamber to state specifications has been a massive task for the company. The company has kept its team of engineers and technicians busy for months producing what they call the “Life Shelter.”

“We have thousands of hours in engineering, prototype work and laboratory testing,” Urtso said. “We’ve had people here until 10, 11, 12 o’clock at night on many nights.”

The chamber is a heavy-gauge steel structure that comes in various sizes. The largest chamber weighs about 10 tons and has a 35-person capacity.

The chamber deploys a rugged tent-like shelter within two minutes, providing an impermeable barrier from toxic gases likely to be present during a mine emergency. It sustains life with food and water, and clean air for up to 96 hours.

The shelter is equipped with lighting, first-aid equipment, a toilet, and even playing cards for passing the time.

A.L. Lee overcame numerous challenges in designing and building the shelters. One such challenge, Urtso said, was to develop a method for disposing of the carbon dioxide that builds up as a group of people breathe in a confined space.

The method devised by Urtso’s team — placing special panels inside the shelter that absorb the gas — was initially not as effective as it had hoped. But once team members tested it, they discovered the humidity that built up inside the shelter made the panels effective.

“There were a lot of issues we had to overcome to get to where we are today,” Urtso said. “It’s been a real adventure.”

In May, Urtso shipped a prototype of the rescue chamber to Washington, allowing members of Congress to inspect the new shelter. Congress and the Mine Safety and Health Administration are considering legislation requiring the use of rescue chambers in all of the nation’s more than 600 underground mines.

That legislation could come as early as next year, Urtso said. But for now, West Virginia is one of only two states that require underground mines to have rescue shelters.

Since A.L. Lee is one of only five companies in the state certified to build them, the company has orders for several hundred shelters. Filling the orders will keep its production facilities busy into 2009.

“Our goal is to produce one (shelter) a day,” Urtso said, explaining that eventually the company may produce as many as two per day.

At the company’s Mabscott facility Tuesday, Urtso took a moment to pose for a picture with many of the engineers and technicians who made the Life Shelter a reality.

“This is a great big day for us,” Urtso said.

A.L. Lee Corp. has manufacturing facilities in Lester, Mabscott and Mount Vernon, Ill.

For more information on the shelters, contact the A.L. Lee Corp. at 934-5361, or visit its Web site at www.alleecorp.com.

— E-mail: bbilleter@register-herald.com