A little-known corner of Erie County's vast parks system is getting some worldwide attention after the busiest English-language website in the world ran a long story about the eternal flame in Chestnut Ridge Park. WBFO'S Mike Desmond brings us the story.
The London Daily Mail ran an article based on a new scientific study of eternal flames to see how they tie into seeping natural gas and possible connection to atmospheric greenhouse gases.
The flame in a back corner of Chestnut Ridge in Orchard Park behind a waterfall isn't well-known, even to longtime county residents, but it is well known in geology circles.
That's what brought a team from Indiana University and the Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology to Orchard Park to discover the source of the gas feeding the flame. The source remains unclear.
Erie County Parks, Recreation and Forestry Commissioner Troy Schinzel tells WBFO News they had permission to study the site.
"There's a real simple process actually which is non-intrusive at all. There was no poking, prodding, digging, anything of that nature," said Schinzel.
The researchers say the gas they found feeding the eternal flame is very different from most sources of natural gas seeping into the air and they could contribute to concentrations of greenhouse gases and other pollutants in the atmosphere.
"They were just going down there with an instrument and measuring the gas itself. So, we went through the park protection law and and reviewed it internally, with our internal mechanisms we have in place and granted them permission and issued them a permit to do so," said Schinzel.
