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.. =: <br />Dave Holm <br />-2- <br />February 25, 1983 <br />A tour of the mine fire site was then taken, which included the east side <br />where substantial venting and subsidence has occurred, the bottom of the <br />trench where the fire has apparently gotten ahead of the trench, and the west <br />side of the trench where the drill holes are located. Numerous subsidence <br />pits and tension cracks are apparent on the east side of the trench. One <br />of these, which I have been keeping track of over the past few months, has <br />widened approximately 1" during the past month. Hot gases and steam are <br />venting from both tension cracks and numerous subsidence pits. It is <br />obvious that the underground fire is still quite active under this portion of <br />ground. During the tour of the trench, I observed that the Florence water line <br />(Newlin Creek supply line) was flowing substantial amounts of water into the <br />trench. A rough estimate of 1 cfs was made. This water flows down the western <br />side of the trench along the bottom of the trench to the north and disappears <br />into old workings. under large riprap, which has been placed along the bottom <br />of the west side of the trench. The majority of the trench to contain the <br />fire has been completed. The northern 1/3 of the trench has about 7 more feet <br />of material to be removed before the coal seam at the bottom of the trench <br />there is exposed. The southern 2/3 of the trench has reportedly already been <br />excavated to the bottom of the coal seam (reportedly 14' thick) and backfilled <br />with non-combustible material. At a point about mid-way between the northern <br />and southern ends of the trench, a pillar approximately 8' wide was encountered. <br />This pillar is 8' wide and runs east and west. When removing the pillar, it <br />was noted that the southern portions of it were not on fire, but as excavation <br />continued to the north, the northern side of the pillar was burning. This is <br />the only burning material encountered which crossed the trench. It appears <br />that the trenching operation has been, for the most part, successful. However, <br />in the one noted location, the trenching operation had allowed the fire to <br />advance in front of the trench. It appears that, if the trench had been <br />completed in the location originally planned, as indicated on Li Chen's maps, <br />the fire would have been contained. This assumes that the fire has only <br />recently advanced beyond the trench and in this one place only. At this <br />location on the west wall of the trench, I noticed venting gases. During the <br />tour of the west side of the trench, we observed the drill hole locations. <br />I discussed the situation individually with Bob Coleman and later with Red <br />Oliver, which resulted in the following: <br />1. The vast majority of the underground fire at the Double Dick mine has <br />been contained by the trenching operation conducted by GEC, <br />2. A portion of the fire has crossed the trench area and it has resulted in <br />at least part of one pillar still burning, <br />3. If the fire is to be extinguished, fast action must be taken to stop this <br />one remaining pillar from spreading the fire to other parts of the mined area <br />to the west, <br />