Coal seam fires new hazard in Sheridan County mitigation plan

SHERIDAN (WNE) —  It’s time for Sheridan County to update its hazard mitigation plan.
“We just need to identify all the hazards that are natural and then what their risk levels are here in Sheridan County,” said Sheridan County Emergency Management Coordinator Jesse Ludikhuize. “And so, that’s done through community input, through the information gathered by public entities like the fire department and police departments.”
Ludikhuize said the one new change to the list is the inclusion of coal seam fires. 
He said a study done by Montana inspired the inclusion; the study identified coal seams on fire near Sheridan County.
“We have known about coal seam fires throughout Sheridan County and Wyoming and the neighboring states,” Ludikhuize said. “We just think that that’s a natural hazard that we need to further look at and then address.”
Coal seam fires can be caused by a wildfire getting into the seams. Ludikhuize said the fires can burn underground for decades; the fires can also come toward the surface and cause a brush fire.
“Every once in a while, those coal seams do come toward the surface,” he said. “...If there (are) high winds that pick up, those high winds can then cause another brush fire in a location.”
Ludikhuize said there are no methods for preventing coal seam fires because they are generally underground, but the county aims to mitigate the danger as much as possible.
“We identify (the coal seams) and (if) they’re in high risk areas then we can do brush control,” Ludikhuize said. “So, we can try to go there and make sure that we’re knocking down any brush or grassland around those coal seams, hopefully to prevent them from sparking and creating wildfires.”
 
This story was published on March 20, 2023.