Friday 28 February 2014

Victoria's coal mine fire

Weeks later the fire in a coal mine in Victoria is still burning
Morwell Is 'Like Mordor'
The coal mine fire at Hazelwood has blanketed the town of Morwell with ash, and locals are strapping on face masks. Tom Doig visited the town this week - and came back coughing up blood

By Tom Doig


27 Febraury, 2014

On Friday night in Melbourne I bumped into Raku Pitt, who lives in Wollangarra, 100 kilometres north-east of Morwell. Pitt had driven through Morwell that afternoon, and was visibly shaken. He said it was “like Mordor”.
There’s ash raining from the sky, a horrible stink in the air,” he told me. “The coal mine fire’s going to burn for weeks, it’s right next to town and no one knows what’s in the smoke. People are wearing face-masks, hiding in their houses — it’s like a zombie movie.”
On Sunday afternoon, I bought a face-mask and drove to Morwell to see it for myself.
A couple of kilometres out of town, the air turned grey. The tree trunks changed from brown to bright black, and the gum leaves were bleached a dirty ash-blond from last fortnight’s bushfires. Road-signs were still standing but the paint had burnt off, leaving them shiny and raw.
At 4:30pm, downtown Morwell was deserted — although, to be fair, it was a Sunday afternoon. Small grey chunks of ash blew out of the sky like dirty anorexic snowflakes; it smelled like a bad barbecue. The first person I saw on the streets wasn’t wearing a face-mask; he ambled out of Morwell Station, sat down on a bench and slowly rolled a cigarette.
At the CFA information bus in the Mid Valley Shopping car park, Belgrave South CFA member Alan Dixon was handing out face-masks and reassuring locals that everything was fine. However, he was also telling residents that, if possible, they should leave town and stay with friends or family elsewhere.
Dixon said the fire-fighters were doing their best, but it could take weeks, even months, to put the fire out. He gave me a face-mask and advised me not to spend the night in downtown Morwell, where the smoke was worst. I considered putting on the mask, but since the CFA staff weren’t wearing them, I didn’t either.
EPA Environmental Protection Officer Mel North said that the fire was either started by a lightning strike, or by an arsonist — investigations were underway. However, any discussion of the causes of the fire misses the point: the Hazelwood open-cut coal mine was an accident waiting to happen.
As North informed me, one of the parts of the coal mine that was now quietly ablaze had been disused for 10 years. However, locals are alleging that the owners of the mine, GDF SUEZ Energy International, had failed to rehabilitate the land.
A number of Morwell residents told me that GDF Suez had not “capped” the old mine site with clay so that the coal was no longer exposed. They had not revegetated the area, so that any fire would pass through above rather than below ground. And they had not installed a sprinkler system as an interim plan while waiting to put in place more permanent measures. I put these allegations to GDF and got no reply.
I asked North if the EPA knew what was in the smoke; she said that scientists were currently conducting tests. When pressed for details, she became defensive and asked me if I was a journalist working on Monash Arts Online’s Dangerous Ground project.
Dangerous Ground, a website that investigates environmental regulation, had severely embarrassed the EPA back in 2008, when a methane gas leak from an old landfill site in suburban Cranbourne led to widespread evacuations at the nearby Brookland Greens housing estate. A 2011 Ombudsman’s Report concluded the that “the EPA failed to protect the environment from […] 1992 to June 2008.”
While North told me that the EPA had yet to find anything conclusive in their tests of the smoke around Morwell, an ABC report two days earlier confirmed that the Authority had “confirmed traces of metal in the air, and some other particles as well […] including nitrogen and sulphur”. However, the EPA told the ABC that these contaminants were “not at levels considered harmful”.
The primary concern of both the CFA and the EPA in Morwell seemed to be minimising public alarm, rather than providing detailed information. A common refrain went along these lines: “I’m not wearing a mask; if it was really dangerous, do you think I’d be standing out here?” However, most of the emergency services staff I talked to did not live in Morwell. They were working there for a few days before returning to their homes elsewhere.
At the Morwell Bowls Club, business was slow on a Sunday night — 10 diners in a bistro that seats close to 80. The Bowls Club is only 500 meters away from the fires, which made for bad air but striking sunsets.

Photo by Tom Doig.

The bartender said that all the Bowls Club staff had been offered face-masks that morning, but she wasn’t wearing hers. “That’d scare the customers away, wouldn’t it?” she said.
Good point,” I said. “It’d be like eating in a hospital.” I had a parma. As I left, the bartender called out “Come back when it’s clear!”
I slept badly. The next morning I felt tired and groggy, as if I’d smoked half a packet of cigarettes the night before. I went to the bathroom and started coughing up bright green phlegm. Outside, the ash was thick on car bonnets and windshields. A Cedar Lodge employee was hosing off the plants in the garden. As one wit tweeted, “Morwell smells like a briquette broke wind”.
Photo by Tom Doig.

Inside the St Vincent de Paul thrift shop, everyone was coughing and complaining about their health.
They told me not to turn my air-conditioning on,” one elderly customer said. “It brings more stuff in. But I was desperate, so I turned it on. It helped a little.”
Unfortunately, while the woman’s air conditioner might filter the larger chunks of coal-ash, it will not filter PM2.5 particles, which are less than 2.5 microns wide (there are 10,000 microns in a centimetre) and are of significant concern to older people.
According to Chief Health Officer Rosemary Lester, PM2.5 particles “can cause short-term health effects”, but the long-term health effects aren’t known. When asked by a reporter if this was because of a “knowledge gap”, Lester replied: “There isn’t a complete knowledge gap.”
According to the Australian Government’s Department of Environment website:
Studies have linked exposure to particle pollution to a number of health problems including respiratory illnesses (such as asthma and bronchitis) and cardiovascular disease. In addition, the chemical components of some particles, particularly combustion products, have been shown to cause cancer. These effects are often more pronounced for vulnerable groups, such as the very young and the elderly.”

This calls to mind a line from Frederick Buell’s book, From Apocalypse to Way of Life: “risk calculations mean that a certain number of individual people are likely to subsidize industry with their lives”.
A “respite centre” has been set up in Moe. However, a Salvation Army volunteer described the centre as a joke. “You can’t stay there overnight, it’s only open from 9am till 7pm," the volunteer said. "So you drive there, sit on a wooden chair all day doing nothing then drive home again. I’d rather stay at home, at least I can watch TV.”
Another local said that the “fallout” from the fires would likely hang around for years. They suggested that a class-action lawsuit might be taken against GDF SUEZ Energy International — a suggestion that was echoed yesterday by the ABC.
This would be similar to earlier class actions in Morwell against the Hazelwood power station, which was once riddled with asbestos and still contains, according to International Power Hazelwood spokesperson Neil Lawson, “an amount of contained asbestos material”. “Contained”, that is, as long as the power station itself doesn’t burn to the ground.
In the Latrobe Regional Gallery, all the staff were wearing face-masks.
Of course I’m wearing a face-mask,” one worker said, “I’ve been wearing a face-mask since last Monday! I live out of town and I get to work and in half an hour I’ve got a headache. If you’re not wearing one you’re crazy.”
Despite the gallery’s best efforts, ash was getting in under the doors and affecting the artworks.
In the gallery’s café, I overheard locals talking about out-of-town journalists sniffing around. “A TV crew came to my neighbour’s house, asking him questions, taking pictures,” one said. “Then he came over to me, asked if I wanted to talk to him. Why would I want to talk to him? Why would I want to be on telly?”
Minutes later, an elderly man collapsed outside Morwell Station. Three paramedics attended to him, preparing to load him into an ambulance. It wasn’t clear whether the man was suffering from respiratory problems — and if so, whether the coal smoke had “caused” his collapse. 
The mood in Morwell was a mixture of panic and frustration, resignation and outrage. Some townspeople see the recent media interest in the “firebug” story as a way of diverting attention from the real story: corporate negligence and government nonchalance.
A rally is planned at 2pm this Sunday, outside Morwell’s Kernot Hall. The protest is called Disaster In The Valley — Dying For Help, and the Facebook event page states:
It has come to light that this part of the mine was supposed to be capped and re-mediated to prevent fire … but it was not. It has come to light that there should have been fire safety infrastructure in place while the coal was exposed … but it was not.”

The rally is scheduled to take place outside; people are being encouraged to “make it cool to wear the face-masks” by decorating the masks in kooky or political ways.
I left Morwell on Monday afternoon. The Princes Freeway takes you right past the fire. No flames are visible, but there is a long, low smoking cliff face. A couple of kilometres to the west there is a field of scorched black grass leading under a protective fence, all the way to the mine.
Photo by Tom Doig.

In other words, GDF Suez left a huge wall of flammable coal exposed to the elements in a fire season. If anything, Morwell might well be fortunate that a similar mine fire hasn’t broken out earlier.
I took photographs with my phone until I started coughing, then got into my not-so-white car and drove back to the big smoke. By Wednesday, I was coughing and my phlegm had blood in it. I probably should have worn that face mask.
GDF did not respond to questions from the author by deadline.



Victoria’s coal fire poses a rare challenge for firefighting


28 Febraury, 2014


Victoria’s Hazelwood coal mine is still burning, nearly three weeks after it started from a grassfire during severe fire conditions. Police are currently investigating the original fire for arson. Meanwhile health concerns continue for firefighters and residents in the nearby town of Morwell, with air quality very poor due to particulates produced in the fire.

Although rare, coal fires can burn for decades — though the Hazelwood fire will probably not last that long, especially given the current firefighting effort. (The latest Country Fire Authority updates are here.)
But what does the current fire tell us about our preparation for potential future fires?

Coal fires: rare, but dangerous

The Morwell Open Cut Mine is a large brown coal mine, close to homes and the Hazelwood power station (which is why the fire is being referred to by the Country Fire Authority and others as the Hazelwood fire). These factors mean that the Hazelwood fire poses a threat to safety of the community andenergy supplies.
It is rare for a coal mine fire to pose such a significant threat. The Jharia coal fire in India has been burning since at least 1916 and has caused serious health problems and subsidence in nearby villages and slums.
Another fire in 2006 at the Hazelwood mine did cause loss of generating capacity to the nearby power station.
:;"
Trying to quench the fire still burning at Hazelwood open-cut mine. AAP Image/Incident Control Centre Hazelwood

The risk of a fire in an open-cut coal mine depends on several factors.
Fire is caused by the combination of three elements: a fuel that can burn, an air supply, and the heat generated by the combustion process. Coal is, of course, the fuel, while the atmosphere supplies the air, and any coal reacting with air will generate heat.
Most coal mined in Australia is black coal, which is geologically older and much less reactive than brown coal.
In the Hazelwood situation the coal fire was started by the grass fire. The coal seam at this mine is very close to the surface, so the heat from the grass fire would easily transfer to the coal seam.
If the seam is fractured and porous, the air would get into the coal and the coal would quickly dry out to a point where it will react with the air, until the coal temperature could increase to flame point and burn. The thickness of the coal seam also meant that there was a large mass of coal available to combust.
It is very rare to get a coal fire of the scale found at Morwell. Most open-cut coal fires in Australia have been caused by unusual circumstance, such as the intersection of the open cut mine with old underground coal mine roadways, which facilitate air paths into the coal seam. At these mines, the fire is controlled through prevention by isolating the underground areas, covering the exposed tunnels to prevent air getting in and only exposing small amounts of coal at a time for mining.

Fighting fire with more than water

Treatment of a fire at a coal mine depends upon the size and location of the fire and the available resources. If the fires are small they can be quenched with water, covered in foam and the offending area dug out and removed.
Large underground fires are often sealed in and the area is filled with inert gas. If possible, and the topography of the coal seam suits it, the area may be flooded.
Open-cut fires similarly depend upon size, location and access.
Often the fire consists of relatively small amounts of smouldering coal under the surface (such as Burning Mountain in New South Wales, 6,000 years old and considered the oldest coal fire in the world). This can be treated by drilling into the areas and injecting with water, foams or other wetting and suppression agents. They can also be treated by compacting the surface above the coal seam and covering the surface with an impervious layer to prevent air entering the seam.

Why is Morwell’s blaze so hard to put out?

Large scale open-cut fires such as at Morwell are far more difficult to manage. The scale of the fire precludes the use of many high-tech solutions due to the lack of bulk materials.
Water is usually the first resort to quench the active fire. Additives can be used in the water to enhance its capacity to quench the fire.
The location of the fire at Morwell makes close access problematic as the smoke and fumes pose a significant health risk to the firefighters (not to mention other emergency workers like parademics, along with local residents). The logistics of dealing with this size of fire are quite staggering in terms of people, machinery, water and length of time.
The danger is that the visible fire will be extinguished but the underlying coal will remain hot. If this is the case and air can get into the seam, the fire can rekindle, days, months or even years into the future. This has been observed here and overseas on many occasions. Brown coal has to be kept moist to prevent it spontaneously combusting.

Better risk management

Now, there needs to be a review of fire management plans at the Hazelwood mine. Clearly the mine can’t prevent arson, but it should be able to prevent the coal igniting and spreading through the coal seam.
Where the fire is currently burning has not been mined for many years. Theoretically, this could have been rehabilitated and capped, although this is not without difficulties.
Perhaps the simplest solution is to have water supplies in the abandoned areas. While we can’t control where the coal is or what starts a fire, the mine can ensure precautions are in place to prevent future fires.

How do we stop this happening again?

It would be reasonable of the regulator to ask the mine to demonstrate that a fire like the current one cannot recur.
The previous fire in 2006 should have triggered a review of the safety management system in accordance with the requirements of Australian Standard AS4804 and the OHS regulations. The controls before 2006 and implemented as a result of that event are clearly not adequate.
Adequate controls may well be very expensive. Consideration could be given to reshaping the batters and capping with an inert material before revegetation occurs.
Controls need to be effective. Access to the grassland could be restricted with better security and inspections. Improved fire detection systems could be installed, such as are used to detect bushfires. Improved water reticulation systems could be installed.
A thorough investigation should also look at the issue of the initial response. When was the fire first detected? What was the early response? When was it realised that the mine was under threat?
Any argument about the cost of controls must recognise the direct and indirect costs of the current incident to Victorians – and particularly the locals living in and around Morwell

A bit of context -

Massive Underground Coal Fire Started in 1962 Still Burns Today


9 December, 2009

You may have already heard the story of Centralia, PA, a coal mining town that had some 1,000 inhabitants at its peak. Now, that population is down to 9. It's become a ghost town for one of the most bizarre reasons imaginable—a fire started in 1962 to burn trash in a dump inadvertently spread to a coal seam underground and has simply never stopped burning. The most recent report, published Dec. 1st in the Bismarck Tribune, confirms that the fire continues to this day--it's lasted an incredible 47 years so far.



Photo credit: jesiehart via Flickr/CC BY
The Coal Fire of Centralia

The fire, which was started by five members of the volunteer fire company when they were hired by the town council to clean up the landfill, was not properly extinguished and spread to become one of the longest burning coal fires. According to Thinking Blog, which provides a short history of the fire, the landfill was located in an abandoned strip mine pit and as the firemen had in the past, they set the dump on fire, let it burn for a time, and then extinguished the fire, or so they thought.
It turns out the fire spread through a hole in the rock pit into an abandoned coal mine underground, where it grew in intensity. It continued to rage for years, putting the towns' citizens at grave risk, writes Thinking Blog:
State-wide attention to the fire began to increase, culminating in 1981 when 12-year-old boy fell into a sinkhole 45 metres deep that suddenly opened beneath his feet. He was saved after his older cousin pulled him from the mouth of the hole before he could plunge to his probable death. The incident brought national attention to Centralia and in 1984 U.S. Congress allocated more than $42 million for relocation efforts.

Photo credit: J.D. Abolins via Flickr/CC BY

Now, a mere 9 people continue to live on the hazardous lands, while the fire is now thought to have spread to an area of over 500 acres. Some worst-case scenario estimates fear the fire could eventually spread to an area of 3700 acres, and burn for another 100 years. Centralia's history was the inspiration for the horror film Silent Hill.

Coal Fires Around the World

Now, the story of Centralia, while fascinating due to its intriguing narrative and dramatic history, is by no means unique. Decades-burning coal fires are unfortunately rather commonplace. In fact, it's estimated that a stunning 2-3% of the entire world's industrial carbon emissions may come from uncontained coal fires in China alone--where such fires burn 20 million tons of coal a year. The Tribune explains:
Such unwanted coal fires rage or smolder in the United States, South Africa, Australia, China, India and beyond. They are burning in huge volumes in rural China and blazing in a district of India to such a great extent the flames from some surface coal fires are more than 20 feet high. Here in the U.S., they are burning in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Colorado and Wyoming as you read these words.

An underground coal fire is nearly impossible to control, and since many other materials are burned along with the coal, large amounts of other greenhouse gases like methane are released as well. Such fires have raged for decades--and are still raging--in Colorado and Pennsylvania.
Coal fires have been called a 'global catastrophe', and for good reason. The world's worst are thought to be in China, India, and Indonesia, but obviously, they're endemic wherever coal stores are found. Technology is slowly being developed to aid the fight in extinguishing the coal fires--let's hope it's ready sooner rather than later, as these fires are atrocious polluters, and an unnecessary danger to human life.



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