"It would seem the worst has happened. The tar sands have caught fire"

Once the fire is in the tar sands they may NEVER put it out

"Let's not forget that if the fire gets in to the tar sands they may NEVER put it out"

--KevinHester

Take this as an example - 

Strongman mine fire still burning after 17 years

12 November, 2013

The smouldering underground fire that has been burning in the old Strongman Mine since August 1996 has forced workers at the small-scale open-cast mining operation above to take precautions..

Solid Energy spokesman Bryn Somerville said the mining team at the site, in the Nine Mile valley, was regularly working through areas of heated rock and coal so special care was needed in the planning and operation of mining activity.

The company also had consent to divert water from the site to cool areas of heating underground.

The underground fire has raged for 17 years, despite Solid Energy's best efforts to extinguish it. They have tried to quench it, injected grout barriers, removed coal ahead of the fire areas and attempted to starve it of air, all without success.

A comment on my blog -

"This probably won't happen, as the energy density of the tar sands bitumen is near that of white bread. Coal on the other hand, is relatively dense."

We might never know?