Fire prompts shutdown of Utah’s Dugout Canyon Mine near Price

Fire prompts Utah coal mine to shut down

WELLINGTON, Utah — The Utah Office of Coal Mine Safety says an underground fire has shut down Dugout Canyon mine 18 miles northeast of Price.

Acting agency director Peter Hackford says rising carbon monoxide levels forced the mine’s evacuation early Tuesday.

Dugout employs 275 workers.

Hackford says he believes the problem is a smoldering coal seam. It’s the same problem that shut down Dugout mine for three weeks in May.

The federal Mine Safety and health Administration put out an automated alert on what it called a “heating event” and evacuation at Dugout.

The status of the mine wasn’t clear late Tuesday. A shift supervisor at Dugout didn’t return a message from The Associated Press. A spokeswoman at St. Louis-based Arch Coal Co., Dugout’s owner, says it is monitoring the situation.