Coal seam fire near Fairmont shows no signs of going out
The incendiary simmering, instead, was coming from about 40 feet underground.
A coal seam fire that has plagued houses and businesses in the community of White Hall for nearly 10 years broke the surface again last week – with a cloud of blue smoke, flames that could be spied through a fissure and sulfur-tinged odor to the air.
The back corner of the parking lot of Winston's Wheels and Tires was hot to the touch as the subterranean fire continued to burn Thursday.
While the state Division of Environmental Protection is monitoring the fire, owners of the business, meanwhile, declined to comment upon the advice of their legal counsel.
The fire was believed to have originated in the former Kuhn Mine No. 1, according to DEP archives. The mine tapped into parts of the Pittsburgh coal seam, which lies beneath 53 counties in three Appalachian states.
DEP staffers were also present June 23 when the Pleasant Valley VFD answered the call.
Firefighters recorded a surface temperature of 700 degrees — hot enough to melt lead — the department said. The company sent 1,100 gallons of water through the fissure and covered the area with a cooling foam.
Smoke again became visible a half-hour later, the department said.
Underground fires are common in West Virginia and other coal-producing states
One such fire that sparked underground in Boulder County, Colo., was finally extinguished in January – after 100 years. Another fire in now-abandoned Centralia, Pa., has been burning since 1962.
A coal fire under the surface near Newburg in Preston County has been going since 2016.
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Dominion Post
21 hours ago
- Dominion Post
Coal seam fire near Fairmont shows no signs of going out
WHITE HALL — No buildings were ablaze when the Pleasant Valley Volunteer Fire Department responded to a smoke investigation call near Fairmont last week. The incendiary simmering, instead, was coming from about 40 feet underground. A coal seam fire that has plagued houses and businesses in the community of White Hall for nearly 10 years broke the surface again last week – with a cloud of blue smoke, flames that could be spied through a fissure and sulfur-tinged odor to the air. The back corner of the parking lot of Winston's Wheels and Tires was hot to the touch as the subterranean fire continued to burn Thursday. While the state Division of Environmental Protection is monitoring the fire, owners of the business, meanwhile, declined to comment upon the advice of their legal counsel. The fire was believed to have originated in the former Kuhn Mine No. 1, according to DEP archives. The mine tapped into parts of the Pittsburgh coal seam, which lies beneath 53 counties in three Appalachian states. DEP staffers were also present June 23 when the Pleasant Valley VFD answered the call. Firefighters recorded a surface temperature of 700 degrees — hot enough to melt lead — the department said. The company sent 1,100 gallons of water through the fissure and covered the area with a cooling foam. Smoke again became visible a half-hour later, the department said. Underground fires are common in West Virginia and other coal-producing states One such fire that sparked underground in Boulder County, Colo., was finally extinguished in January – after 100 years. Another fire in now-abandoned Centralia, Pa., has been burning since 1962. A coal fire under the surface near Newburg in Preston County has been going since 2016.
USA Today
2 days ago
- USA Today
2 $1 million lottery prizes go unclaimed in Virginia, Idaho
Winning the lottery is a dream scenario for many, apparently, except for two lucky ticket holders who didn't claim their jackpots and missed their chance to become millionaires. Officials with the Idaho Lottery and the Virginia Lottery confirmed to USA TODAY that two $1 million prizes went unclaimed with their claiming period expiring on Monday, June 30. The ticket in Virginia won the state's New Year's Millionaire Raffle drawing on Jan. 1, 2025, while the ticket in Idaho is from last winter's Idaho $1,000,000 Raffle. The unclaimed prize in Idaho became the fourth $1 million winning draw ticket in the state's lottery history to go unclaimed and the first in more than a decade. Now that the prizes have gone unclaimed, Idaho officials said the funds will go toward the state's public schools and the 'State of Idaho's permanent buildings – like those on our college campuses.' In Virginia, the money will go into the state's Literary Fund, which officials said provides low-interest loans to cities for 'public school construction, renovations and technology upgrades.' Where can you buy lottery tickets? Tickets can be purchased in person at gas stations, convenience stores and grocery stores. Some airport terminals may also sell lottery tickets. You can also order tickets online through Jackpocket, the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY Network, in these U.S. states and territories: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Washington D.C., and West Virginia. The Jackpocket app allows you to pick your lottery game and numbers, place your order, see your ticket and collect your winnings all using your phone or home computer. Jackpocket is the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY Network. Gannett may earn revenue for audience referrals to Jackpocket services. GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800- GAMBLER, Call 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY). 18+ (19+ in NE, 21+ in AZ). Physically present where Jackpocket operates. Jackpocket is not affiliated with any State Lottery. Eligibility Restrictions apply. Void where prohibited. Terms: Contributing: Jonathan Limehouse/ USA TODAY Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.
Hamilton Spectator
3 days ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Point Park returned to Northern Ontario First Nations after 27 year-long struggle
The smell of walleye and the sound of live music wafted through Point Park on Indigenous Peoples Day. Under the 30C sun, dozens of children ran between the beach and inflatable, bouncy castles. Susan Councillor took in the ruckus under a lone tree at the edge of the park. Across the mouth of Rainy River to her right, you could see International Falls, Minnesota. To her left, Couchiching First Nation was visible on the southern shore of Rainy Lake. And behind her, the highway met the Town of Fort Frances. All of this action right in the middle felt to her like the good old days. 'This is awesome. We haven't had something like this anywhere, (a place) to sit and enjoy music and visit with people. There used to be pow wows here, there used to be fairgrounds. There used to be baseball,' she said. 'It's such a beautiful piece of land but it wasn't being utilized for anything. When the organizers planned this, they didn't know about the verdict that came out on Wednesday. It just fell into place.' She was referring to a June 17 summary ruling 27 years in the making, which returns this sliver of land known as Point Park to the nearby Couchiching, Mitaanjigamiing, Naicatchewenin, and Nigigoonsiminikaaning First Nations, collectively known as Agency One. A contested history The Point where Rainy Lake meets Rainy River has always been a landing point for trade between First Nations. Between 1871 and 1888, it was also home to Robert J.N. Pither, the Indian agent for Couchiching and one of two commissioners who signed Treaty 3 in 1873. The other commissioner of the agreement with 28 First Nations that covers a 55,000-square-mile area in northwestern Ontario and southeastern Manitoba, Simon Dawson, sent a report to Canada's Governor General on Dec. 31, 1874 in which he proposed guaranteed reserves. Those included Reserve No.1, also known as the Agency One Reserve. Dawson described it as follows:'At the foot of Rainy Lake, to be laid off as nearly as may be indicated on the plan. Two chains in depth along the shore of Rainy Lake and the bank of Rainy River, to be reserved for roads, right of way to lumbermen, booms, wharves and other public purposes. 'This Indian Reserve not to be for any particular chief or band, but for the Saulteuse tribe, generally, and for the purpose of maintaining thereon an Indian Agency generally with the necessary grounds and buildings.' Settlers surveyed roads through the area in the decade that followed, incorporating the township of McIrvine in 1894. McIrvine grew into Fort Frances, which became a township in 1903. Ontario was not only eager to recognize surveyed roads and townships in the district to encourage agricultural development, but it was also embroiled in a dispute over its border with Manitoba through the late 1880s and early 1890s. Laws recognizing settler property and Indigenous land rights moved quickly and inconsistently. The residents of Fort Frances, meanwhile, extensively lobbied senior levels of government to hand over the Agency One land to them for a park. Those efforts culminated in Canada signing a 99-year lease to the town in 1908. In 1998, the four First Nations that make up Agency One filed a statement of claim against Canada for breach of fiduciary duty, alleging maladministration. They added Ontario and Fort Frances as parties in 2008. The town issued a counterclaim the following year, asserting it rightfully owned the park. Justice Fregeau agreed with Canada and Ontario in the decision, ruling that the Agency One Reserve, 'was a validly created reserve' and that Canada, 'did not intend to publicly dedicate the land' when it leased the park to Fort Frances. Fregeau then dismissed the town's claims of $50-million for breach of promise as well as its $2-million reimbursement claim for 'unjust enrichment' over the capital improvements the municipality made. 'This land was always ours' Under the tent, Nigigoonsiminikaaning Chief Terry Allan held a microphone in one hand and an eagle feather in the other as he explained the decision's meaning to the assembled crowd. 'Every elder knew, every chief knew, every community knew — this land was always ours, and it will be for thousands of years,' Allan said. 'Just try to picture yourself here thousands of years ago. Picture these drums. Those songs, these drums, they don't change. They've been here for thousands of years. The ceremonies we're going to be doing once again here on these lands, picture the kids running around, picture people fishing, picture the canoes here. Picture all those things. They're going to come back here.' As a boy, elder William Yerxa remembers running to the beach to watch those canoes make the last leg of their journey across the bay. They'd come from communities as far east as Seine River, nearly 100 kilometres away. Yerxa is a member of Little Eagle Band, a descendent of the treaty signatory to the Point. He said his elders told him that the land rightfully belonged to him, that Pither was a thief, and that one day, he'd have to talk about it.'Somebody was here before me a long time ago and they watched over the land. They cared for it. They took care of the water, they took care of the land, they took care of the animals, they took what they needed. They belonged to the land – and we are the land. That's why it matters to me,' he said, tugging at his t-shirt that read 'It's All Indian Land.' 'We won the court case. We're different. You can feel that lightness flowing within them now. That's theirs, it's ours. It's who we are.' The case has carried on for nearly the entire life of Yerxa's 34-year-old granddaughter, Cheyenne Vandermeer. Vandermeer is now the Deputy Grand Chief of Grand Council Treaty #3, the territory's traditional government. Vandermeer remembers the four communities would hold spring and fall feasts from when she was too young to understand why the chiefs were meeting under a tent in the park. Yerxa took her to where Pither and the railroad had disturbed the burial mounds of her ancestors, along the riverbanks where shards of ancient pottery are still resting in the sand between the stones. Her job in politics keeps her on the road but every day she's home, she walks to the rapids to offer tobacco. 'He always said we never gave it to them, we said they could borrow it and now it's done and it's time for them to give it back,' she recalled of her grandfather's teachings. 'I think from our side of things, we were willing to share our territory, but we never did surrender it. I think they're going to have to learn to be in relationship with the chiefs and communities, who are caretakers of this land.' A long road to decolonization The small steps Fort Frances has taken toward reconciliation are visible from this spot. The sign that read 'Pither's Point' was removed in 2014. That sign was on the off-ramp from the waterfront street that used to be called 'Colonization Drive.' In 2021, it was renamed 'Agamiing Drive,' which is Anishinaabemowin term to describe the edge of the water. But some among the settler population resisted those changes and the city's stance during the case reflected that. The municipality's mailout leaflets in the late 2010s incorrectly informed Fort Frances residents the First Nations had 'surrendered' the park. They listed a number of other First Nations lawsuits and land claims framed as encroaching on private property interests, even inferring the price of electricity could be in jeopardy. In summation, they read, 'All the Town is looking for is to preserve the Point Park and roads for everyone to use and enjoy. The town has made many attempts to settle these matters. The town's proposals to date, have been rejected, however, the Town will continue to seek solutions that will preserve the park use as it has existed for over a hundred years' (original emphasis). Fort Frances Mayor Andrew Hallikas and his council bucked eight terms of their predecessors on Monday when they voted unanimously to abandon further appeals to ownership over Point Park. Their public statement says council members 'acknowledge and regret the damage done to our relationship with Agency One,' recognizing the toll the prolonged case took on residents, staff, and members of area First Nations.'I'm very proud of this council for putting an end to what seemed to me to be endless litigation,' Hallikas said. 'I'm pleased they took a position that will allow us to move forward toward our journey to reconciliation. I really want it to be a time of healing. I want to see a rebuilding of trust and it takes time to build trust, but it's a beginning.' The first meeting between the town manager and the CEO of Agency One resulted in a commitment to joint funding for fireworks on Canada Day at Point Park. Over the four decades Couchiching First Nation Chief Richard Bruyere has been fighting this battle, he said he's watched members of his community integrate with the town's young people in sports and school. He's watched more of his community's members working in the municipality and some choosing to live there. He has watched the political needle move slowly and he's hopeful over the Fort Frances' council's promise to improve the relationship across the park that has been allowed to come between them for so long. 'There seems to be a new way of thinking,' Bruyere reflected. 'It's a beautiful spot and it's going to go on being that way. It's incumbent on us as First Nations people to keep that beauty there. I don't know if 'pristine' is the right word or not but it has to be managed properly. It's new to us, we're going to stumble along the way. Not everything's going to be helping the linking of a lot of people, but we'll get there.' Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
