The Powderly Culm Bank Fire is believed to be out, but to get to the other two: Take the interstate to the first Carbondale exit.  Take the road you find yourself on to the "main drag" through town.   It will "wiggle," but is not too difficult to follow.  When you get to a restaurant with a prominent advertisement with a phone number marked "252-LOVE," you are in the right spot for further directions to two of the fire! Fire!! FIRE!!!!'s (Um, sorry about that.)

To reach the West Side Mine, turn left, and drive as far as you can on that road (not far.) Then take a right, and turn right again just before Dundaff Street (again, not far at all.) You will see an area of considerable abandoned industry/devastation--pictures to follow.

To reach the Wayne Street Culm Bank Fire, turn right, and drive as far as you can on that street (up a hill.) Then turn right, and after a ways, the culm bank will be visible on the right.  There is even a place to park--picture to follow.

A quick note about the West Side Mine Fire: The fire has been burning off of Dundaff Street in Carbondale since before the 1960's.  Over 600 families have had to leave their homes because of the fire.

Here is a picture of an abandoned factory with a collapsed smoke stack in the West Side Mine fire area.

I have a correction on this--sent to me from Chris Murley, of www.undergroundminers.com:

>the building you refer to as an abandoned

>factory is the power house for the old coal brook

>colliery there was a huge breaker there too but that

>was knocked down in the seventies.

-I like it.

And here is a picture--also in the West Side Mine fire--of an abandoned factory.  I found this picture rather poignant, and quite indicative of the general mood of collapsing industry felt all over this area of Pennsylvania.

I got another correction--also from Chris Murley:

> the other building (the one with only one smoke

>stack) was a power house for an old RR roundhouse that

>was right behind it.  you can still see the circular

>foundation behind it.  if you go to terraserver.com

>you can get satelite pics of carbondale.  the neat

>thing is everything northeast of scranton hasnt been

>updated since92 so most of that roundhouse is still

>there

Only recently disovered, the fire in a culm bank off of Wayne Street:

As in the West Side Mine Fire, there is no detectable signs of the blaze beneath.

A short note about the Powderly Culm Bank Fire: This fire is thought to be out.  It had started in the culm banks at the former Powderly Colliery.  The site has been dug up and watered down; however, the fire may have spread to underground coal seams, with no detectable signs on the surface, as yet. . . .

   *Update* -The following was also from Chris Murley, of www.undergroundminers.com:

>The powerdly fire in

>carbondale is still burning as there is pipes that go down into the mine

>and there is smoke comming out of them.  there are also cracks in the

>ground with smoke rising out of them.

Thanks, Chris.  :)

    On to Archbald, PA.