What is Firedam?

All gases that can be found in the mine, except breathable air, were historically referred to as moisture. It is assumed that this term comes from the word dampf , which is for a pair of German. In particular, FiredAmp concerns any number of different flammable gases that can be found in the mining process. These fire gases can be collected in deposits such as coal seams or other background rock formations, so any amount of open flame in an active coal mine can potentially lead to fire or destructive explosion. Specialized lamps that used very fine network screens were used to reduce the chance to ignite fire before the availability of safe electric light. These flammable gases can be found in various circumstances, although bituminous coal mines tend to have a large amount of associated methane. Modern mining techniques can extract these deposits of methane by injection of carbon dioxide (CO _{2 ), but the presence of these flammable gasHistorically, it was historically just one of the many risks associated with coal mining.}

Because methane is often placed in and between coal beds, early mining operations would often release it when hitting the seam. In some cases, the spark from picax or other ignition source would cause the released methane to light or explode immediately. It was also possible for Firedamp to penetrate an existing tunnel or shaft, where it could later be lit by a lamp, airy coal dust or other means.

Special lamps were built to help reduce the likelihood of an explosion of fire. This was achieved by packing the lamp flame in a fine net. The network material could allow methane to pass the lamp body and be burned with flame, but the holes were fine to contain the flame itself. Since the flame should tend to ignite in the presence of flammable gases, these lamps were also used to determinewhether Firedama was present in a particular tunnel.

As a result of an explosion of fire, other dangerous gases were often released. These gases, which may consist of carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide and nitrogen, are referred to as a beam. Because they tend to be odorless, these gases can cause asphyxiation in miners, leading to the practice of reducing small rodents or birds into the mines. These small animals would usually respond to the presence of afterdamp in time so that human miners retreat to the area with breathable air.