The governor said Pennsylvania has 38 underground mine fires, the most of any state in the nation, and an agreement with the US Department of Interior’s Office of Surface Mining (OSM) would ensure the Dolph Colliery mine fire was put out before it threatens local infrastructure and nearby communities.

The fire was started when flames from a burning automobile spread to a coal refuse pile, which eventually ignited the No. 2 and No. 3 Dunmore coal seams on the site of the abandoned colliery.

The fire has been growing steadily and threatens to destroy a new sewer line, and could affect a new highway if left to burn unchecked.

The OSM began monitoring the fire in September 2004 and excavated a cut-off trench to try to isolate fire in the waste coal, but discovered that it had already jumped into the underlying coal seam and abandoned underground workings at the Dolph Colliery.

This threatened the viability of the newly constructed Jefferson Township sewer line, which has a daily flow of 100,000 gallons and sits in the immediate path of the fire.

Because there are no houses in the path of the fire, OSM indicated that the fire might not be eligible for emergency funding from the Department of Interior, which would have placed the burden for fighting the fire on the commonwealth.

Pennsylvania’s limited abandoned mine lands funding would have been insufficient to perform the task, thereby allowing the fire to continue to spread and threatening to interrupt funding to the state’s other ongoing abandoned mine projects.

Funding for the project will be split roughly 50:50 between state and federal agencies.