Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman Colleen Connolly said Honesdale’s Leeward Construction spent about a week excavating burning culm – a mix of waste anthracite coal and throw-away shale – from a fire near the soccer fields at Ed Staback Regional Park.

The culm pile is all that remains of the Northwest Coal Company breaker, part of the former Raymond Coal Company colliery. The formerly burning portion lies about 185 metres from nearby homes.

DEP records show that about 80 coal fires still burn in Pennsylvania, including mine fires deep underground and coal refuse bank fires at the surface.

DEP Office of Active and Abandoned Mine Operations deputy secretary John Stefanko said last April that most fires were caused by burning trash near culm dumps or abandoned mines.

The DEP awarded Leeward a $US498,400 ($A617,100) contract to excavate and quench the coal refuse bank fire in the Eynon section of Archbald Borough, Lackawanna County, after a mine fire was discovered near the coal refuse bank on October 20 and reported to the department’s Wilkes-Barre office. The contract was awarded after local public works and fire companies failed to dig out and extinguish the fire.

A contractor hired by the DEP on October 28 to drill near the fire to determine its depth and intensity drilled 25 boreholes, three of which were 6-12m deep and registered over 37C (100F).

The fire excavation and quenching project consists of constructing access roads, establishing a water supply, applying firefighting foam, excavating and quenching the refuse material and re-grading. Upon completion of the project, any disturbed areas will be seeded and cleaned and equipment will be removed from the site.

Leeward Construction will be required to have approved gas monitoring equipment onsite at all times to check for carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and oxygen. The equipment will take a minimum of three readings each day, within 6m of nearby homes, or as directed by DEP.