Centralia Explosion No.5

March 25, 1947 started off as a regular day. 111 men some husbands, fathers or even both kissed their wives and children goodbye to go off to work, not knowing that would be there last kiss to their loved ones. As the men went throughout their normal work day at No. 5 Coal Mine, they looked forward to quitting time and reuniting with their loved ones. Woefully, this would never come to past. Catastrophe struck at 3:27. 111 lives were slayed out by a colossal explosion. Paramedics, firemen and policemen gathered at the scene in efforts to rescue wounded coalminers. There were 142 men at the site. 65 were killed by burns and other injuries and 45 were killed by afterdamp. Eight men were rescued, but one died from the effects of afterdamp. Only 24 miners escaped. (Centralia IL Mine Disaster).
Who is responsible for this you ask? Majority feel the blame was that of Medill and his administrators as well as the Federal and State government. Others feel Scanlan could have done more to prevent this disaster after all he did have authority to shut the mine down. I will identify and explain four logistical alternatives Scanlan could have addressed, Analyze and discuss Scanlan’s motivation toward the Constitution (the law), bureaucracy (as a public administrator responsible to the public), and obligation and discuss different actions that Scanlan could have taken. One logistical alternative Scanlon could have addressed was when he reported those findings of a possible explosion to other professional but all failed to follow safety procedures and allowed the men to continue with the job. Instead of listening to Robert
Medill the director of the Illinois Department of Mines and Minerals, Scanlan Should have directly reported his findings to the Governor of Illinois, the U.S. Bureau of Mines and the State Mine Board to ensure safety measures and further infestations were established .Also, Scanlan should have developed some type of fail-safe or escape route. By having