EAST CARBON, Utah — Nearly three weeks after it ignited, a Utah coal mine is still on fire in the central part of the state and could continue burning for a long time.
The fire is also giving off toxic gases.
The Lila Canyon mine southeast of Price ignited on Sept. 20 and is giving off toxic gases as it burns.
According to the Bureau of Land Management, the fire ignited in a coal pillar, meaning the coal itself is burning.
It's still not known how the coal ignited, but a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Labor said Friday that the mine has a history of spontaneous combustion which can happen to coal as it oxidizes.
Documents from the Bureau of Land Management and the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining both show Lila Canyon’s owners are trying to drill bore holes in the top of the mine.
The labor department spokesperson said drilling began Thursday and the bits may have to travel twelve hundred feet. This will allow the owners to sample the air and determine the best course of action, which could include injecting nitrogen into the mine.
Not long after the fire ignited, a professor at Missouri University of Science and Technology who studies mine fires explained why the fire could be tough to extinguish.
"If the fire in the mine is in the mined out area and spread it to the active working area, that problem is normally tough," said Guang Xu. “Normally, you would need to either flood the mined out area with water to put off the fire, or sometimes uses induction of nitrogen to, like, inert the mined out area so the fire will be put off without oxygen.”
The spokesperson with the labor department couldn’t give a timeline for snuffing the fire, but left open the possibility that it could burn for months.
The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration is still keeping the mine off-limits until sampling and testing determine it’s safe.
