Fermilab Today reported on March 21 that a mine shaft fire that began in the Soudan Underground Mine last Thursday now appears to be out, though officials are unsure whether detectors for the MINOS experiment and the Cryogenic Dark Matter Experiment were damaged. The Soudan mine is managed by the University of Minnesota.
The fire was detected around 9 pm on Thursday night, when no personnel were present. The cause of the fire has not been determined.
“We are blind to the actual status of the laboratory and its equipment until we can go inside the underground laboratory again,” said Dan Bauer, Fermilab Operations Manager for experiments at Soudan.
Video images did not indicate the presence of smoke in the underground lab on Friday, giving hope that the experiments went unharmed. By Saturday, responders found they could use the mine’s cages to send monitoring equipment down the shaft, such as a carbon monoxide monitor, temperature gauges and a camera. On Sunday, a three-man crew descended into the shaft in the mine’s elevator and did not find any active fire, though there were large amounts of foam and water.
The Soudan Underground Laboratory is located on level 27 of the mine, about a half-mile underground.
