Coal bings ('slag heaps') were notorious sources of sub-surface fires sparked by spontanous combustion, which could burn for decades. After an attack on Stirling in 1941, the fireguards at Millhall colliery and the local NFS spent the rest of the war dousing the hottest parts of Millhall bing every night to stop it acting as a homing beacon for a return visit by the Luftwaffe. Even in the '70s I remember walking over it and being able to gaze on white-hot fires through huge surface fissures. Has anyone heard similar stories from other parts of wartime Britain, or is there any evidence of the same problem occurring in either Germany or Occupied Europe?
