Jurisdiction: Abandoned Mine Lands
2000 Emergency Projects Archive
Fire on the Prairie
A grass fire took place in April, 2000 in McLean County, north of Washburn about 45 miles from Bismarck. This fire ignited coal refuse from an underground mine that had been mined between 1909 to 1927. Local fire fighters attempted to douse the fines with water but intense heat prevented the water from extinguishing the simmering fines. The following are a series of pictures which depict the impacted area, the measures taken by our office to eliminate this emergency and the final result. Fire Photo1 (798kb jpg) and Fire Photo2 (641kb jpg) show both a panorama and the burning embers, Fire Photo3 (630kb jpg), Fire Photo4 (757kb jpg) and Fire Photo5 (813kb jpg) show heavy equipment at work during reclamation, Fire Photo6 (807kb jpg) shows a trench being cut into which the burning material was dozed, Fire Photo7 (796kb jpg) is an additional shot of heavy equipment at work, and Fire Photo8 (801kb jpg) and Fire Photo9 (822kb jpg) show a couple panoramic shots after reclamation.
