... but not, to my knowledge, any on land owned by coal companies. Access roads to mines are often in remote, hazardous areas and are intended to last only as long as the companies need them to transport the coal. So once they move out those roads are not maintained. I have traveled a few in Pike County, KY and just maneuvering a regular car on them was enough to scare the bejeebus out of me. On some there is room for just one car and no turnaround, so you have to back your way down again! A large part of the problem is the nature of where they build the roads... because the bottom of the hollows is the only place level enough for roads, it also means that every time it rains all the water running down the surrounding hillsides floods the hollows and washes them away.
Over the years I've seen folks living in school buses, decrepit trailers that look like old construction huts, you name it. Fires are indeed common during the winter months. I remember many a winter of my youth when we'd look across the Ohio and see entire ridges of the Kentucky hillsides on fire. At night it appeared as suspended ropes of flame dancing in the dark.
The worst conditions I ever witnessed were in remote areas of the WV mountains, but that was years ago. My father would take us by train down to visit relatives in Bluefield and you'd see families living in shacks perched on the mountainsides. Dirt floors, animals running in and out of the house, barely clothed and fed -- and no road at all. I guess they used the tracks as a kind of road.
Using scraps of coal as fuel is common for poor folks. My mother grew up dirt poor in a run down little house next to the railroad tracks. When a coal train passed through, the children were sent out with baskets to collect any nuggets of coal that fell from the hoppers. It was all that kept them from freezing to death but my mother never did get over a childhood of being perpetually cold. A lot of the kids and adults suffered terribly from respiratory illnesses and some died. Tuberculosis, chronic bronchitis and pneumonia were common.
Hunger is a perpetual problem. In my old home county the schools have a backpack program that sends children home with food for the weekends and through the summer because for many children the only meals they get are at school. Unfortunately they found out that the parents of some children were stealing and selling the food for meth, so they had to teach the children how to hide their food from their parents.
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