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February 17, 2024 - State workers have made an underground coal mine fire safer near Marshall and Cherryvale roads by doing mitigation work. The Lewis mine construction site just northeast of the intersection of Marshall and Cherryvale roads houses a smoldering coal seam fire that’s about 30 feet underground. On Friday, Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety team members discussed the recent progress they made on reducing fire potential above ground.
.png) Jeff Graves. director of the state office of active and inactive mines, left, and Jeremy Reineke, project manager, talk about slowing the amount of fire in the underground Lewis Mine near Marshall.
Photo: Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer
Last summer, workers from the state office said they observed a spike in activity from the fire, including increased venting and gas emissions. Workers launched the Lewis Coal Mine Fire Mitigation Project with the goal of lowering the risk of a surface ignition from the underground fire.
“I think it’s a significant reduction in the risk of wildfire ignition in this area,” Jeff Graves, director of the DRMS Inactive Mine Program, said of the project.
Workers excavated about 10,500 cubic yards of land since Jan. 25 – digging to just below the coal mine workings and blending the burning coal with rock and soil. While the process does not entirely extinguish the undergruond fire, it cools the blended material to below 90 degrees and ensures above-ground combustion won’t happen.
Friday saw the final stage of compaction of the smoldering material at the site, as well as the last placement of structural fill dirt.
“It’s just been a really great experience to see an actual coal fire get excavated,” said Mitchell Mannino, one of the project team members.
Project Manager Jeremy Reineke said the team is preparing to plant some native grasses on the site within the next few weeks.
The property also includes two houses that were damaged in the Marshall Fire and are currently being rebuilt. Reineke said it’s nice to approach the end of the construction work and give the homeowners one less thing to worry about going forward.
“They’ve been really, really great folks to work around and be with,” Reineke said. “I’m happy for them, and it’s nice to be able to have that interaction.”
Graves said the state office has identified at least 38 underground coal mine fires in Colorado, with two of those in Boulder County. A number of factors, including proximity to infrastructure, determine which sites are prioritized for mitigation efforts.
Graves pointed to the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law as the primary reason the coal mine fire mitigation projects could happen. The bill gives the state mine office $10 million annually for the next 15 years to address coal-related problems in the state. The Lewis mine mitigation cost just under $300,000.
“That’s really going to enable us to take a more proactive approach on addressing these sites throughout the state,” Graves said of the funding. “This kind of activity that we’re doing here, I think we’re looking to do it at those other sites throughout the state to thereby reduce that same kind of wildfire potential.”
Looking ahead, the state office wants to partner with Boulder officials to mitigate the other underground coal mine fire in Boulder County, which is near the Lewis mine site. Graves said work on that site could start either at the end of this year or early next year.
“This (Lewis) site is definitely a small-scale, relatively simple mitigation,” Graves said. “I think this was a really nice one to kind of check off quickly and address some of those community concerns.”
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