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800-degree ground leaves boy with burns
Geologist says sun heated coal patch

Talk about global warming!

Authorities in Colorado Springs are reporting an 8-year-old boy was treated for second-degree burns after he stepped on a hot patch of "coal spoil" that reached 800 degrees Fahrenheit.

John Leavitt, a Colorado Springs spokesman, told the Denver Post a state geologist found a "waste pile of coal dust" had been superheated by sunlight.

The boy, whose identity was not revealed, suffered burns on his foot when he stepped onto something that he described as being like quicksand. The sole of his Croc shoe, made of resin, melted down to a fabric mesh, authorities reported.

Fire department spokesman Sandy Friedman told the newspaper the boy was in pain from the burn and was treated by paramedics with morphine before being taken to the hospital.

Authorities and investigators responded to a city-owned parcel of park land in the Rockrimmon part of the city and obtained the 800-degree reading with a thermal-imaging device.

"We knew there had been coal-seam fires in Colorado and that Rockrimmon is an old coal-mining area," Leavit told the newspaper. He said there was no indicate of matches or another incendiary that could have ignited the four-foot diameter area.

"It is odd, considering how long it must have been sitting there," Leavitt told the Post. "It was bizarre."

Workers roped off the area and firefighters hosed it down to bring the temperature down to about 250 degrees, the newspaper said. Fire officials also alerted business owners and homeowners who are nearby.

Friedman told the Post officials plan to cover the area with several feet of dirt to keep it cooler.

I live in a coal mining area. There were many strip mines here in the 50's and 60's. There are still many areas here that are covered in waste pile coal dust. One of these is an elevated area exposed to the sun all day long. It has never gotten any hotter than any asphalt parking lot (Usually around 300 degrees F). It makes me wonder if there isn't something else adding to the effects of the sun.

In addition to coal seam fires in Colorado, that state also has two volcanoes. The volcanoes have been somewhat dormant for many, many years but as with all volcanoes underground activity is always a possibility.