After months of waiting and worrying, the folks on Nellie Lane in White Hall are finally seeing heavy equipment on the hill behind their homes.
Crews and machinery were at work Tuesday on the hillside in the Marion County town, where a landslide tied to an underground mine fire has been creeping toward houses and businesses for weeks. The slope has been cleared of trees and debris, and the top of the hill, where the homes sit, is now marked as a red zone. The site is divided into three zones: red means do not enter, orange means restricted access, and green means minimal hazard.
The $11.6 million project was awarded to Thaxton Construction of Charleston. Delegate Guy Ward, R-Marion, a former White Hall mayor who has been pushing state officials to act, said the work is expected to take about 90 days.
A fire that has burned for decades
The trouble starts underground. According to state Department of Environmental Protection records, the coal fire is believed to have started in the old Kuhn Mine No. 1, which tapped into the Pittsburgh coal seam. It has smoldered beneath the area for decades and flares up from time to time. In July 2025, neighbors reported smoke rising from a crack in the ground, and volunteer firefighters measured temperatures of up to 700 degrees.
Vegetation was removed from the hillside in the summer of 2025, and a retaining wall was planned. Then the record rains of summer 2026 soaked the slope, and the ground began to move. Ward said earlier this fall that about four homes and four businesses had been affected, with damage to a waterline and to the power line serving the homes.
What the fix involves
Ward has described the plan as a big earth-moving job: digging back into the hill about 45 feet, putting out whatever burning coal crews can reach, and then putting the dirt back at a gentler two-to-one slope. The DEP has said that rapidly changing conditions at the site required several redesigns, that the project is expected to fix the slide, and that it will provide housing assistance to affected residents.
The DEP has said the fire itself cannot be fully put out, but it can be controlled by digging down and placing dirt along its edges.
For the families who have watched their yards slip and their walls crack, the sound of excavators on that hill is a welcome one. We'll keep an eye on how the work goes over the coming weeks.