ABSTRACT

Control and containment of longstanding fires remain a challenge globally to all the coal producing countries. The cost of tackling such fires are prohibitive. The main and immediate concern for such fires are to save the vital surface structures like railway lines/roads, bridges, rivers/stream, overhead construction - as well as protecting adjacent underground property and rest of the mine; if not the recovery of the fire affected zone itself. In US coal mining history long-standing fires existed for centuries. The combustion rate of the fire depends on the rate of oxygen feed to the burning fuel. In order to control and isolate an UG fire, it is all the more important that the following information are available to a reasonable degree of accuracy prior to making the design of combat measures. Heat produced from sub-surface fire, travel in the superincumbent strata, mostly by conduction.