WILBURTON NUMBER TWO, Pa. — Wilburton #2 is a small community in Conyngham Township, Columbia County, outside of Mount Carmel.
"We have one street and about two dozen houses that people live in full-time," Nance Gaughan said.
Gaughan has lived in Wilburton for 26 years and enjoys the quiet community. But lately, she and her neighbors have been dealing with a mine fire.
"We have had concerns with sulfur smells in our homes, smoke everywhere, and nobody knew where it was coming from, and for a long time, it smelled like tires burning," Gaughan said.
According to the Department of Environmental Protection, the Mine Safety Office in Pottsville was notified about the fire in December of last year. Officials believe the fire was started by trespassers who burned tires stored on the property.
DEP says it was not notified by the site operator, Mid Valley Coal and Fox Coal Company. Residents were not notified either.
"It wouldn't have taken much to type a letter and put it in 24 mailboxes, so we knew from the start what was happening," Gaughan said.
According to DEP, Mid Valley Coal and Fox Coal Company attempted to dig out the fire, but it rekindled. The fire continues to be dug out but keeps burning. That spokesperson says no carbon monoxide has been detected offsite. Even so, residents are frustrated.
"We've been breathing it. It's in our homes, even in the summer, with our windows open," Gaughan said.
Wilburton Number Two is about three miles from Centralia. Residents are concerned that their community will turn into Centralia, where all but a few people living there were forced out by an underground mine fire.
"A lot of us have pulmonary issues. A lot of senior citizens, a lot of animals in town," Gaughan said.
A spokesperson for DEP says the mine fire is being monitored daily, and DEP gave the site operator a violation notice for not reporting the fire.
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