Carbondale mine fire

The Carbondale mine fire was a mine fire in the West Side neighborhood of the community of Carbondale, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania in the United States, 15 miles (24 km) from the city of Scranton.[1][2] The fire, which started in 1946 and was eventually contained by the 1970s, caused at least two fatalities and millions of dollars of property damage.

Site description

The Carbondale mine fire is located in the Northern Anthracite Coal Field. It is in the vicinity of an apartment complex consisting of eleven three-story buildings.[3] The dump where the fire started was in former strip mine pits of the Hudson Coal Company's Powderly Mine. The pits had dirt and outcroppings of rock containing hidden coal.[2]

The Carbondale mine fire spread considerably faster than the Centralia mine fire in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, but was somewhat smaller.[1][4]

Unlike many mine fires, the Carbondale mine fire lacked "noxious odors".[3] There are, however, irregular snowmelts in the area, which is typical of mine fires.[3]

32 of the boreholes installed by the Office of Surface Mining in 1986 have 6-in-ID (6-inch internal diameter) casings and the remaining two have 4-in-ID casings.[3]

Physical and geological description

There are at least six coal seams in the vicinity of the Carbondale Mine fire. The major seams in the area include the Grassy seam, the New County seam, the Clark seam, the Dunmore Seam #1, the Dunmore Seam #2, and the Dunmore Seam #3.[3]

The temperature of the coal in the Carbondale mine fire ranges from 50 °C (122 °F) to 290 °C (554 °F).[3]

The carbon monoxide concentration of the Carbondale mine fire ranges from nearly 0% to approximately 0.4%. The concentration of methane can be as high as 500 parts per million.[3]

By the mid-1950s, the Carbondale mine fire occupied an area of 120 acres and burned as far down as 100 feet (30 m). The top 40 feet (12 m) in the area of the fire consisted of rock and wash. Below this, there were five or six coal seams ranging from 3 to 8 feet (0.91 to 2.44 m) thick and interspersed with layers of slate and sand. The temperature of the fire was as high as 750 to 900 °F (399 to 482 °C); hot enough to melt the thermometers used to gauge the temperature.[2]

In the 1960s, the area of the fire was inhabited by 1300 people.[2]

Early history

The Carbondale mine fire began in either 1943 or 1946 when a fire in Carbondale's city dump spread to nearby mine workings.[2][3] It is unknown if the fire was natural or man-made.[2] In the late 1940s and early 1950s, a number of minor unsuccessful attempts were made to stop the fire by flooding the burning mine workings.[2][3] It was the first time that an attempt to excavate a mine fire of that size had been made. In the 1950s, boreholes were dug around the perimeter of the fire and filled with a variety of materials, including sediment and sand. In this decade, an attempt was made to dig out the fire. In 1956, it was projected to take three years, but it continued into the 1960s and caused significant property damage. During the excavation, large amounts of coal were removed from the area. During the excavation, the fire nearly spread to the east side or downtown part of Carbondale, but was successfully contained.[2]

The first fatalities of the fire occurred in 1952, when the fire spread under the house of a couple and asphyxiated them with carbon monoxide. Some time later, several dozen people were poisoned by carbon monoxide from the fire, but there were no fatalities.[2]

In 1959, the federal government designated the West Side of Carbondale as an "urban redevelopment district" due to the Carbondale mine fire.[5]

In 1960, evacuation began in the vicinity of the Carbondale mine fire and over the following decade, mine experts acknowledged the fire's continued spread. Around this time, a proposal was made to drain nearby lakes to use those waters to flood the fire, citing a project cost of $100,000. Another plan proposed smothering the fire with dry ice, an option deemed impractical due to the fire's large size.[2]

Later history

The Carbondale mine fire was extinguished or contained by 1972 or 1974.[6]

In 1986, 34 boreholes were installed at the site of the Carbondale mine fire by the Office of Surface Mining.[3]

As of 2000, the site of the Carbondale mine fire is checked regularly to verify its containment.[1] The fire forced approximately 1000 residents to evacuate, caused millions of dollars in damage,[2] and destroyed approximately 500 buildings.[5]

Media response

The Carbondale mine fire received notoriety in local newspapers in its early years, and excavation attempts of the 1950s and 1960s were covered in the May 1960 issue of Popular Science magazine. The Saturday Evening Post featured a story on the fire in 1963, saying that the excavation effort was moving more earth than the construction of the Panama Canal.[7]

The novel The Hollow Ground features a mine fire based on the Carbondale mine fire.[8]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Patrick Kerkstra (August 29, 2002), "Coal mine fires burning under 1,200 acres in Pa", Baltimore Sun, retrieved June 1, 2014
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Kathleen Purcell Munley (2013), The West Side Carbondale Pennsylvania Mine Fire, University of Scranton Press, p. 
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Ann G. Kim; Thomas R. Justin; John F. Miller, Mine Fire Diagnostics Applied to the Carbondale, PA Mine Fire Site (PDF), retrieved June 1, 2014
  4. ↑ David DeKok (April 1, 2000), Unseen Danger: A Tragedy of People, Government, and the Centralia Mine Fire, p. 
  5. 1 2 Bill Conlogue (October 28, 2013), Here and There: Reading Pennsylvania's Working Landscapes, Penn State Press, p. 
  6. ↑ David DeKok (2009), Fire Underground: The Ongoing Tragedy of the Centralia Mine Fire, p. 
  7. ↑ Kathleen Purcell Munley (2013), The West Side Carbondale Pennsylvania Mine Fire, University of Scranton Press, p. 107, The work scene is awesome. Men with giant shovels, bulldozers, and trucks are now swarming over the site. Before they are through, they will dig out an area almost a mile long and a half-mile wide down to bedrock—on average a hundred feet or more...(moving) more earth than the builders of the Panama Canal
  8. ↑ Book inspired by mine fires in area to be released in May, The News Item, February 2, 2014, retrieved June 24, 2014

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