The patch of burning coal dust that seared a boy’s foot baffles Al Amundson, an engineer with the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety.
“Coal spoil” fires like the one that erupted below the surface at Colorado Springs’ Golden Hills Park and burned Matthew Bershinsky, 8, aren’t unusual in Colorado’s mining country, Amundson said.
But how the coal got to the location, and why it caught fire when it did, are mysteries.
Matthew stumbled onto a patch of superheated ground as he ran, carrying a garter snake, across an undeveloped section of parkland Monday. The ground — which was later measured at 800 degrees Fahrenheit — was hot enough to melt one of the boy’s plastic clogs into his foot and cause second-degree burns.
Matthew, who is being treated at Children’s Hospital, is in good condition, hospital spokeswoman Elizabeth Whitehead said Wednesday.
Whitehead read the following statement from the family, which declined a Denver Post request for an interview: “Matt is recovering well from surgery. He is expected to recover fully. This was just a freak accident, and we are glad the city is taking care of it.”
Coal is flammable, and when enough oxygen and heat are present it can self-combust.
Heat from the sun could have triggered the inferno, especially if vegetation had been stripped away from the coal recently.
But these underground fires generally burn for some time before they are noticed, making them difficult to put out, Amundson said. It can take more than a week to extinguish the fires.
The blaze that singed Matthew was easily extinguished, and the ground cooled quickly, evidence that it started only hours before the accident, Amundson said.
“Usually by the time you notice something is so hot you can’t quench it . . . you have to dig it out and spread it out just to put it out. (Firefighters) said they put some water on it and it burned and spat back at them. When I got there the following morning, I could put my hand on it, which is usually not the case,” Amundson said.
City park crews are laying about 2 feet of earth over the area, which will keep it from igniting in the future.
The timing of the blaze isn’t the only thing that baffles Amundson. How the coal dust got to the spot, which is about one-quarter mile from the abandoned Pikeview coal mine shaft, is also a mystery.
Similar waste piles are found closer to mines.
“It is in a totally illogical place,” Amundson said.
The Pikeview Mine was owned by the Pikes Peak Fuel Division, a subsidiary of the Golden Cycle Corp., when it closed in July 1957.
Had the state mining division known that the coal was in the park, employees probably would have buried it before it had a chance to ignite, Amundson said.
“When it is real close to a population like this and on such an attractive place for kids to play, that is real scary. The only reason it wasn’t on our priority list is that we weren’t aware of it.”
Colorado Springs acquired the property in 1981, said Paul Butcher, director of Colorado Springs Parks Recreation and Cultural Services.
Butcher didn’t know the coal was there until he heard about the fire, but there probably were some people who were aware of it, he said.
“Probably somebody knew about it. Coal is not that uncommon in that area. Seeing a patch of coal remnants wouldn’t really spark anybody’s attention,” he said. “We had no idea that it could self-combust on a hot day. It has been an education for us.”
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
The Colorado Springs Gazette contributed to this report.
