A driver gives a member of the 220th Military Police (MP) Company, Colorado Army National Guard (COARNG) reasons why he needs to cross the access control point to the Coal Seam Fire. The 220th MP is assisting the Glenwood Springs Police Department by providing security access control points around the fire. The Coal Seam Fire started sometime in the mid-1970s as an underground fire burned along a rich vein of coal. Occassionally the fire breaks through to the surface. At this time it had burned 7,300 acres, damaged an estimated 40 structures, and caused the evacuation of 2,000 residents