The State of Colorado is rolling out plans to extinguish an underground coal fire that has been burning for more than 50 years near Boulder,
At a cost of $1 million, the state plans to dig a pit to reach the fire and snuff it out. by blending soil and rock with the coal, eventually extinguishing the fire.
Though it is not the only underground fire left burning in abandoned mines, the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining & Safety grew concerned because the surface of the Lewis site was routinely reaching temperatures of over 120 degrees and the ground above it is growing increasingly unstable. Denver 7 reports.
The coal seam fire was left burning when the Lewis Coal Mine was abandoned on the site. At one time, the coal seam fire was suspected as a cause for the Marshall Fire, which burned more than 1,000 homes. The state later determined it was not the source,
