"Fire Tower"

Fire Tower is a location on the Atglen & Susquehanna Railroad Trail. In the Spring of 1959, an underground fire began here, under the eastbound main track of the Pennsylvania RR’s main east-west freight route through Lancaster County to New York, which handled more than 60 freight trains per day. The fire apparently developed in coal dirt used as fill during construction of the large fill over Boatman’s Run in 1905, and this coal was apparently ignited by brush fires in the dry Spring of 1959. On July 21, 1959, 2 inches of rain fell. It is believed this moving ground water penetrated the dirt in the Boatman’s Run fill and, under hydrostatic pressure, contacted the burning coal fire, causing a flash steam explosion which blew out the river side of the fill. The fire continued to burn until Spring, 1961. During this period, the railroad dismantled 675 feet of the eastward main track and hired the DuPont Company to extinguish the fire. A temporary interlocking was installed to route trains in both directions over the one track remaining in service. This temporary manned interlocking was housed in a small building given the name “Fire Tower.” After the fire was extinguished in 1961, the eastward main track was rebuilt, and the temporary interlocking and the “Fire Tower” structure were removed. No photographs of "Fire Tower" are known to exist. The area is still known as “Fire Tower.” The tracks were entirely removed in the 1990s and in 2011 and the railroad roadbed was converted to a 29-mile long trail. The trail is mapped as and locally known as the A&S Low Grade Trail, but it is also called the Enola Low Grade Trail. Approximate coordinates for the old Fire Tower structure are Lat 39.911806, Long -76.37920.