Reading this morning that wildfires break out in Montana from time to time when coal seam fires break onto the surface.
How do fires manage to burn underground? Seems like there wouldn’t be a lot of oxygen and there would be water.
So, how does a fire manage to burn in the coal?
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Because these coal seams are relatively close to the surface (close enough to break through) they are not ever really sufficiently submerged by ground water.
And yes they don’t get much oxygen. Not nearly the oxygen exposure you get on the surface, but enough still makes it’s way down to keep it alive.
Because don’t think of these as raging underground fires. They are the coal effectively smoldering for days, weeks, years, decades, until they one day get exposed again/burn to the surface.
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