It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
(visit the link for the full news article)
Firefighters want to know what’s causing the ground to get so hot near Golden Hills Park in the Rockrimmon neighborhood. Battalion Chief, Kent Matthews says, "In my twenty-four years I haven't witnessed this kind of occurrence. So it's unique.”
After the boy was treated and sent to the hospital firefighters took surface readings that showed hard to believe temperatures. According to Chief Matthews, "The highest temperature we got was 800 degrees.
What they found has a relatively simple solution according to Kurt Schroeder with Colorado Springs Parks, "What the state representatives indicated to us is that the coal spoil that's been on top of the ground for years and years reacts with the sun, heat of the sun and it spontaneously combusts.”
Because it's coal refuse likely dumped at this spot years ago, the recommendation from geologists is capping it. Crews will dump two feet of fill over the spot to keep the sun causing the coal remnants from igniting again.