DEP, local officials ponder mine fire containment in North’d
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - Smoke fills a mine slope atop Big Mountain in Zerbe Township, Northumberland County, as officials gather at the site.
TREVORTON, Northumberland County – State and local officials were on site in this Zerbe Township village today to discuss how to extinguish a mine fire atop Big Mountain.
The fire broke out last Saturday when dumped waste on the site caught fire nearly two miles off Gap Road, near the Coal Miner’s Cross Memorial.
Since then, smoke has consistently been seen ebbing and flowing from a mine slope.
Officials from Northumberland County and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation visited the site today and discussed possible steps to contain and extinguish the fire.
Since the fire broke out, volunteers from the Trevorton Fire Co. have spent much of each day on scene dumping water into the slope. The rugged terrain to reach the site has been taxing on the fire apparatus, taking their brush truck out of service, as well as several mutual aid apparatus last Saturday.
DEP officials on site said they received emergency approval from the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement and funding allocation from the Commonwealth for a project to tackle the fire.
They expect the project to be designed and sent out for bids within about two weeks.
Until then, firefighters will continue to dump water into the mine to try to keep the fire in check.
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