BANKS TOWNSHIP -- You can see the smoke from a mine fire near Tresckow, but the Department of Environmental Protection is having a hard time figuring out exactly where that fire is burning.
The DEP says the problem comes from old maps of the coal mine.
"They're inaccurate. They don't give us an idea of what the mines are like underground," said Colleen Connolly, DEP spokesperson.
Crews are using those maps to drill holes in the mine to find out how far and wide the fire is spreading, but those maps are from the 1940's and 50's and some of the holes are drilled in the wrong place making them pointless.
All of the drilling was supposed to be finished by the end of August, but that probably won't happen.
Joe Ziller lives near the fire and he thinks it's just another excuse.
"I guess we're just going to have to learn to live with delays because it seems like apparently they don't have the game plan proper."
The DEP says without the accurate holes, it can't come up with a plan of attack. The department says it has been checking the air quality in the area for high gas levels from the fire.
"We've done about 25,30 monitoring events, they all come back with no dangerous levels of any gases there."
Even though the DEP says those levels aren't dangerous, Ziller lives in the home closest to the mine fire. He says sometimes the smell is so bad he has to hold his nose.
"Three Saturdays ago, it was so bad I had to close the windows in the house. It's horrible."
The DEP says that smell is expected, especially after it rains or on windy days.
"Until we get these holes drilled, unfortunately they're going to have to put up with an odor and maybe seeing some smoke, but we really want to get drilling accurate."
Both the DEP and people who have to live near that fire can agree on one thing.
"I would like it to end. I would like them to put the fire out," said Ziller.
The DEP says crews will probably finish drilling those holes sometime in September.
The whole drilling process cost about $1 million and is paid for by a fund that coal companies pay into in order to mine.
In the meantime, Ziller says he's sick of the whole thing and wants to move.