A fire can burn without flames.

Deep beneath the ground, coal seams can smolder for decades or even centuries, consuming ancient fuel while the surface above appears almost normal.

In The Underground Fires That Can Burn for Centuries, we explore how these hidden fires begin, why they are so difficult to extinguish, and how they can transform the landscape above them.

Some underground fires begin naturally, while others are caused by mining, exposed coal seams, lightning, or human activity.

Once a fire enters a coal seam, the ground itself becomes fuel. Oxygen travels through cracks and openings, heat spreads through the surrounding rock, and combustion slowly advances through the underground deposit.

Unlike a surface fire, an underground coal fire can survive for generations because the fuel source m ...