Coal refuse bank fire near Wilburton being extinguished, DEP docs say
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - The entrance to the Mid Valley Coal Co. at Colliery Road and Midvalley Highway near Wilburton #2, seen on Sept. 13, 2023. PADEP docs say a coal refuse fire is being fought at this site.
WILBURTON #2 – A right-to-know request filed by the Sentinel revealed this week that a coal refuse bank fire near this Conyngham Township village is actively being extinguished.
The fire broke out at some point late last year on the property of the Mid Valley Coal Company north of Wilburton #2, according to inspection reports from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP).
Authorities were first notified of the fire on Dec. 22, 2022, and since then, residents in Aristes and Wilburton #2 have reported odors from the fire, especially in the area of Colliery Road and Midvalley Highway.
According to an order from the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) served on Matt Guarna, foreman, for the Mid Valley Coal Company, the company says the fire “may have started from trespassers lighting tires on fire” and the company had been working to remove coal refuse from the fire site.
MSHA, at that time, ordered the company to “remove all miners from the area for a distance of a 500 foot radius” until an action plan to extinguish the fire could be approved.
In a compliance order issued by PADEP the same day, authorities said the fire had broken out more than 10 days prior and the company did not report it promptly.
An action plan was submitted and approved on Dec. 23, requiring the company to monitor CO levels and temperatures at the site, to keep anyone not involved in the firefighting effort 500 feet away, and that water be available for firefighting if necessary.
“We are hauling the bank surrounding the fire away to ensure the fire does not spread and screening the material from the fire and placing it on clay to extinguish it,” Guarna wrote in the action plan.
Mid Valley Coal has since been required to follow the action plan to extinguish the fire and PADEP has followed up regularly, documents obtained in the right-to-know request show.
PADEP has extended the deadline to complete the firefight several times, noting that “work is progressing and the operator is following their action plan.” The most recent extension, granted on Aug. 16, pushed the deadline back to Sept. 30.
In their most recent inspection report, filed on Sept. 1, PADEP said that fire “material is being excavated around the perimeter creating a break and working toward the center.”
The fire is unrelated to the nearby Centralia Mine Fire, and is the latest in several active coal fires in the region.
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