Coal Refuse Pile Fire Extinguished in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania
It took nearly six weeks,
more than a million gallons of water and 1.1 million gallons of foam to get
the fire out.
ARCHBALD, PENNSYLVANIA --
ARCHBALD, PENNSYLVANIA --
A coal refuse pile fire that began as burning
garbage in a park in the Lackawanna County community of Archbald
has been extinguished.
The fire was discovered in November by visitors to Ed
Staback Park. The fire was too large for
the local volunteer fire company to extingquish
so they called DEP's Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation for help.
DEP assessed the extent of the file to determine if it was also spreading
underground.
DEP hired Leeward Construction of Honesdale, Wayne
County, to dig out the area around the fire and extinguish it. The
company also drilled boreholes nearly 100-feet deep and sprayed water and
foam on the blaze. The fire was officially declared “extinguished” on
Jan. 20.
Leeward was awarded a 500-thousand contract for the
work, but total costs are still being determine.
The construction company will spend the next few weeks backfilling the area
where the fire burned.
This is the second large coal refuse fire DEP's
Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation has successfully extinguished in
Northeast Pennsylvania during the past year. Last winter, it took two
months to put out a fire on more than 20 acres of old coal land in Simpson,
Lackawanna County.