Volcano-like underground fire is put out after a month

July 2015 – WOODBURY, N.J. — Crews have put out a fire that burned underground in southern New Jersey for a month, melting the ground around it and reaching 1,000 degrees. Woodbury Mayor Bill Volk tells the Courier-Post that the fire was extinguished Thursday, a month after it started during a severe storm. He says it “looked like a volcano.”

It began when a power line snapped, sending electricity into the ground and igniting a mixture of coal and cinder used as the foundation for train tracks in a wooded area. The mayor says neighbors called authorities when they saw smoke coming from the ground. Firefighters went to the scene seven times over a month before county and state officials helped put it out. –Wish TV

Nine others are still burning in Pennsylvania: CARBONDALE – On cold, clear winter days, the underground fire burning near Russell Park is easy to see. Smoke and steam shoot through fissures in the rocks, smelling of sulfur. Moss thrives in the cracks, warmed by the gases. Smoldering since 1995, this fire is one of eight active coal fires in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties on record with the state Department of Environmental Protection.   –Time Tribune