TREVORTON, Pa. — Smoke is still billowing from the entrance to this abandoned mine on top of the mountain near Trevorton. Northumberland County public safety officers say the fire inside that mine started last Saturday.
Trevorton resident Kimberly Roesly says she could smell it.
"It just smelled like burnt rubber in the air and we did see smoke. It was filling up the woods here."
Though they didn't see or smell smoke this week, John and Irene Benick say they're worried about the impact it could have on their neighbors.
"Some people with oxygen in the tank, carrying the oxygen, I’m sure they would be concerned."
The Trevorton fire chief says the department pumped 80,000 gallons of water into the mine the day the fire started. They're now filling their 1,400-gallon tanker truck 8 to 10 times a day, making the long trek up the mountain on difficult dirt roads and pumping that water into the mine.
A representative from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection says the agency believes tires and trash left on the surface of the mine entrance caught fire before the bottom gave way and the burning heap plummeted into the opening.
"We had no idea, right up behind our house, that they’re dumping stuff," Irene Benick said.
"People shouldn’t do it, but they do do it. They don’t have to pay the garbage man, that’s the bottom line," John Benick said.
"It’s free, but it’s not. In the long term, it’s not. It causes a lot of health concerns, too. it’s very upsetting," Roesly said.
The cost to put out the fire could be very high. DEP officials say they're considering hiring contractors and bringing in more tanker trucks to assist the fire company in the short term.
The Benicks are concerned about what might happen if the small department is stretched too thin.
"When they’re up there and they have a fire, it’s going to take them a while to come around to wherever the fire is, certainly," John Benick added.
All that water has not been enough to put out the fire that’s still happening down inside the mine. County officials say their next step is to add a foam solution into the mixture and they’re hoping that will make all the difference in putting this fire out.