Coalfield fires are considered a global crisis that contributes significantly to environmental destruction and loss of coal resources and poses a serious threat to human safety and health. In this paper, research related to the initiation, development, and evolution of coalfield fires is re-viewed. The existing detection and control techniques of coalfield fires are also reviewed. Traditional firefighting is associated with waste of re-sources, potential risks of recrudescence, potential safety hazards, extensive and expensive engineering works, and power shortages. Recently, coalfield fires have been recognized as having significant potential for energy conservation and heat energy recovery. Thermoelectric power gen-eration is regarded as a suitable technology for the utilization of heat from coalfield fires. The extraction of heat from coalfield fires can also con-trol coalfield fires and prevent reignition leading to combustion. Technologies for absorbing heat from bing coal and overlying rocks are also analyzed. In addition, the control mode of three-region linkage is proposed to improve firefighting efficiency. Integrating heat energy recovery with firefighting is an innovative method to control coalfield fires.