KSL: Renewed effort underway to douse 70-year-old underground fire

[ExpUt]

Renewed effort underway to douse 70-year-old underground fire:

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=960&sid=17954806&title=renewed-effort-underway-to-douse-70-year-old-underground-fire

I've seen the heat plumes from the underground fire at Smoky Mountain near Lake Powell, pretty neat but I can understand the need to extinguish. I had heard there was a reported fire deep under the Bog Mine in American Fork Canyon but I've not heard any updated less than a decade old.

Pics from my trips to the Smoky Mountains fire:



The colors are really neat:

[sanpet]

underground fires

Underground fires are very common in the world today. Why anyone would want to try to put it out is beyond me. It will take lots of money to even try. But maybe the state could use the money they get from coal mining. Now I see where Dugout Canyon Coal Mine is going to lay off 140 some miners and shut down the long wall next year. That will be over 2-3 million tons of coal a year.

[lobster68w]

At least they are spending money on this worthless cause rather than mine closures.

[fredmcain]

Underground fires are very common in the world today. Why anyone would want to try to put it out is beyond me. It will take lots of money to even try. But maybe the state could use the money they get from coal mining. Now I see where Dugout Canyon Coal Mine is going to lay off 140 some miners and shut down the long wall next year. That will be over 2-3 million tons of coal a year.

I believe there was also a fire burning for many years in the Vulcan Mine near Rifle, CO. They used to mention it when I'd ride by there on the train. If I was travelling during the winter, you could look up on the side of the mountain and see there was no snow near the "hot spots". Sometimes you could even see an occassional puff from the vapors. I went by there the last time on Amtrak in 2000. It was still burning then and might still be burning today. I think it has been burning since the 1920s or 30s. Does anybody know?

Regards,
Fred M. Cain