{"id":72,"date":"2026-09-27T07:00:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T11:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radio.wvrcdev.com\/wajr\/white-hall-slide-repair-could-be-too-late-according-to-state-lawmaker\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T15:15:54","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T19:15:54","slug":"white-hall-slide-repair-could-be-too-late-according-to-state-lawmaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radio.wvrcdev.com\/wajr\/white-hall-slide-repair-could-be-too-late-according-to-state-lawmaker\/","title":{"rendered":"White Hall slide repair could be too late, according to state lawmaker"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>WHITE HALL, W.Va.<\/strong>\u2014An ongoing fire in a pre-law coal mine in Marion County has forced some from their homes and is now threatening some businesses. Back in May of last year, West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection officials said they had been monitoring an underground fire twice a week for about a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Delegate Guy Ward, R-Marion, 74, said the properties are located below the mine, and the DEP had vegetation removed in the summer of 2025 and planned to build a retaining wall. The work was not completed, and the summer of 2026 set records for rainfall, causing the hillside to begin to slide. The slide is now up to the front walk and the garage door and beginning to cause damage to at least one business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The waterline to one of the homes has been damaged and the electric line serving all of the homes has also been damaged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe slide is now encroaching into one of the buildings below and pushing the wall,\u201d Ward said. \u201cThere are probably four businesses down there affected and four homes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ward said it might be too late to fix the problem. Bids for a project to stabilize the hill will be opened October 8, and the project is expected to take 90 days. Because the hill seems to be less stable as more rain falls, Ward isn\u2019t sure there\u2019s enough time to fix the problem and save the property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s not getting any better, and it will be October 8 before the bids are opened, then it will be 90 days to get things fixed,\u201d Ward said. \u201cI don\u2019t know, but I think we\u2019re running out of time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During the pre-bid meeting for the work, Ward said the engineer said the removal of vegetation from the hill had nothing to do with the slide. That\u2019s one point in the process Ward takes issue with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOne of the engineers from the company that did the engineering for the project said those trees they took out had nothing to do with the landslide, and that\u2019s not true,\u201d Ward said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is at least one family with a child and an elderly lady that will be offered alternative housing by the DEP, according to Ward. Considering the advance knowledge the DEP had about the project, Ward partially blames the damage on a lack of timely action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe did say they would give them some temporary accommodations until the project was over, and I\u2019m glad of that,\u201d Ward said. \u201cI never had anything bad to say about the DEP, but this time they did drop the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The mine is more than 100 years old, and the origins are not known. The fire can\u2019t be extinguished, but it can be controlled by digging down and placing dirt on the edges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the summer of 2025 members of the Valley Volunteer Fire Department applied more than 1,000 gallons of water and five gallons of foam in an area behind Winston Tire and Wheels after a report of smoke. Within 30 minutes officials said black smoke started to plume from the opening in the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey put earth in front of all that, but it\u2019s still smouldering back there underground, and every once in a while it will raise its ugly head,\u201d Ward said. \u201cThere will be a crack in the ground and you\u2019ll see smoke come out of there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A statement from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) said the matter is under litigation and their comments would be limited, but bids for the project will be opened October 8 and the notice to proceed will be issued on the same day. Rapidly changing conditions at the site required multiple redesigns, but this project is expected to fix the slide problem. Additonally, the DEP will provide housing assistance to residents affected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WHITE HALL, W.Va.\u2014An ongoing fire in a pre-law coal mine in Marion County has forced some from their homes and is now threatening some businesses. Back in May of last year, West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection officials said they had been monitoring an underground\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":73,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radio.wvrcdev.com\/wajr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radio.wvrcdev.com\/wajr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radio.wvrcdev.com\/wajr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radio.wvrcdev.com\/wajr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radio.wvrcdev.com\/wajr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101,"href":"https:\/\/radio.wvrcdev.com\/wajr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions\/101"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radio.wvrcdev.com\/wajr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radio.wvrcdev.com\/wajr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radio.wvrcdev.com\/wajr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radio.wvrcdev.com\/wajr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}