May 17, 2006 By Rebekah Sungala 3 min read

DUNBAR – Three Dynamic Materials Corp. (DMC) employees were rushed to Pittsburgh hospitals Tuesday morning after being overcome by carbon monoxide while working in the former limestone mines in Dunbar. DMC, according to the company’s Web site, is the world’s leading provider of explosion-welded clad metal plates. The local company, whose headquarters are in Boulder, Colo., uses explosives to cold fuse metals of dissimilar nature together.

The explosions are conducted deep in the former Dupont limestone mines located on Dunbar-Ohiopyle Road and the metal plates are then taken to the company’s Mount Braddock facility where they are processed and checked for quality.

A spokesman for Fayette County 911 said the company called at 9:18 a.m. requesting an ambulance for at least one man who was possibly overcome by carbon monoxide poisoning.

Rick Adobato, Fayette EMS director of operations, said emergency crews found three employees in need of treatment when they arrived on the scene. He said one of the employees was in critical condition, the other two in serious condition.

Adobato said the unidentified employees were “men of various ages.”

Because medical helicopters were grounded due to rainy weather, Adobato said the men were taken by ambulance to UPMC-Presbyterian and Allegheny General hospitals for hyperbaric treatment, a common therapy used to treat those with carbon monoxide poisoning.

Adobato said he did not know how they men got out of the mine, but said about 10 other employees also were in the area of the mine where carbon monoxide was believed to be present.

He said the other employees were checked at the scene by ambulance crews and released, showing no signs of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Emergency officials said no explosions were believed to have occurred in the mine and said all symptoms experienced by the three men point toward carbon monoxide poisoning.

In addition to Fayette EMS, hazardous materials crews and firefighters from Dunbar Volunteer Fire Department also responded to the scene.

Roy Shipley, director of the Fayette County Emergency Management Department, confirmed carbon monoxide was present in the mine and referred all other questions to Bernadette Oberlechner, DMC manager of human resources, safety and environment.

Tom Rathbun, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said the DEP was investigating the incident.

Rathbun said work at the former limestone mine involves molecular metal bonding, not mining.

The DEP currently oversees several former limestone mines in Pennsylvania that now are used for purposes other than mining, including manufacturing and records storage, Rathbun said.

No further information was available, as representatives from DMC declined comment Tuesday and calls to Oberlechner went unanswered.