Newburg mine fire continues to burn, Rice: 'It is a scary situation. I don’t think anyone would want a mine fire that close to their home'
NEWBURG — Newburg residents are becoming more and more concerned with the Newburg Brocom Run No. 1 Mine fire that continues to burn.
Newburg resident Ruth Taylor who lives near the fire said the fire is getting closer to their homes on Scotch Hill. “There are days where the smoke just lays over our homes making it impossible to go outside and enjoy the day,” Taylor said. “And the smell is horrific.”
The fire has been burning inside the abandoned mine for at least three years. The mine is in the Pittsburgh coal seam, but the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) does not have any specific data on the mine.
Rob Rice, Chief of the DEP Abandoned Mine Lands and Reclamation Division, said the DEP has been working on finding a solution to the extinguishing the fire.
Newburg Fire Chief Bill Larew said their department receives calls about the fire at least once a week if not more. “This is a project that we know has to be done,” Larew said. “It is a scary situation. I don’t think anyone would want a mine fire that close to their home.”
“We just had a call yesterday about the smoke,” Larew said on Thurs., Dec. 1. “It seems like when it rains like it did the water seeps into the coal seam causing steam and making it worse.”
Larew said his department checks out the fire occasionally, but he doesn’t like to risk his men going into the area. “The area is undermined and under post,” Larew said. “We don’t like walking on top because you don’t know where you are. One wrong spot and you can fall in.”
Larew said temperatures in the area are probably pushing 600 degrees underground. “You will be finished,” Larew said. “Fire gear isn’t going to help anyone in that.”
Rice said his department’s funding for abandoned mines has decreased steadily over the years, and this year’s projections looks like they will only be receiving $24 million for next year’s projects. “Unfortunately with the size of the fire it is cost prohibitive to handle the fire with a typical funding source,” Rice said. “There is approximately five acres on fire, and it will cost approximately $10 million to put the fire out.”
“We use to get between $50 and $70 million a year for projects,” Rice said. “But because of the economy and coal severances decreasing, so has our funding.”
In the meantime while researching ways to fund the project, Rice said the DEP is still scrambling to find a way to remove the coal in the seam. “First thing we did was talk to coal companies and see if they would be interested in a ‘no-cost’ retrieval of the coal,” Rice said. “That means the company would come in and extract the coal that is in the seam and reclaim the land.”
Rice said since the DEP does not have any records of the mine, the companies did not want to take the risk. “The problem is we cannot find any mine maps,” Rice said. “We don’t know the perimeters of the mine. We could not tell the companies if there was any other coal in the seam except the pillars.”
Rice said they are not exploring a temporary solution to make an immediate impact on the residents of the area by filling the portals and fissures. “It would alleviate some of the problems,” Rice said. “It should help to reduce the smoke in the area, but won’t completely solve it until the fire is permanently put out.”
The process to put out the fire would be a mountaintop removal type project.
“You cannot just put water on the fire as it is now because the water could cause a steam geyser making the situation worse,” Rice said. “To properly put the fire out, you need to take the soil off, remove the coal by the bucket full.”
“Once you remove the coal, it is taken to an adjacent area where it is spread thin,” Rice continued. “At that point, you can put water on it to put it out.”
After all the material is removed and out, then the material would be transported back to the mine site and reclaimed. “One thing we do know is this seam is approximately 100 feet underground,” Rice said. “So this is not a small undertaking.”
DEP officials told the Preston County News & Journal on Friday, Dec. 2 they will meet on Tuesday, Dec. 6 with their federal counterparts to inspect the site, and hand out carbon monoxide detectors to people who live nearby, as a precaution.
“This project is a priority,” Rice said. “It was always on our list of projects to reclaim, but when the fire began it was moved up.”