Work to tackle underground fire that has been smouldering for TWO YEARS shows ‘positive signs’

The fire, which started in the colliery spoil left over from Leigh’s industrial past, has been alight under Green Lane since 2021.

Wigan Council, in collaboration with the fire service, started a three-week trial to extinguish the smouldering debris at the site – known locally as Queensway – last month.

The trial is now complete, with specialists designers and contractors Wardell Armstrong LLP and Landfill Projects targeting two hotspots in an effort to put the blaze out.

Aidan Thatcher, director of place at Wigan Council, said: “The three week ‘grouting’ trial to extinguish two hotspots at the Queensway underground fire is complete.

"This method has the potential to be a more cost-effective way of extinguishing underground fires, with less disruption to the landscape compared to digging up the land, letting it cool, then refilling it which has been the traditional way of tackling these types of fires.

“Evaluation is still under way, but signs so far are positive with temperatures dropping at the hotspots where the grout was inserted.

"We are working alongside our specialist contractors to carry out a full assessment before any decisions are made about rolling this solution out further on the site.

“We would like to remind everyone that this site continues to be closed to the public.”

The contractors used a technique that involved injecting grout within a small area of smouldering colliery spoil in Queensway Tip to control and extinguish the fire.

It was thought that this could provide a quicker, cheaper and more sustainable method to extinguish the subsurface smouldering.

The council will continue to monitor the situation in the coming weeks before they can confirm if the underground fire has been extinguished.