Centralia, a Ghost Town on Fire Since 1962
Tuesday, 5th February 2008 by Alex Turnbull
In 1962, a landfill site in Centralia, Pennsylvania was set on fire. The rubbish was located in the pit of an abandoned strip mine, and although it was believed to have been extinguished at the time, the fire actually remained burning in the lower depths and eventually spread to an eight-mile seam of coal, where it has now been burning for 46 years.
Initial attempts to extinguish the fire were unsuccessful, and it continued to burn throughout the 1960s and 1970s. It soon became apparent that carbon monoxide produced by the blaze was having adverse effects upon the health of the locals, but it wasn't until 1979 that people became aware of the scale of the problem:
a gas-station owner inserted a stick into one of his underground tanks to check the fuel level. When he withdrew it, it seemed hot, so he lowered a thermometer down on a string and was shocked to discover that the temperature of the gasoline in the tank was 77.8°C (172°F).
A couple of years later a 12-year-old boy fell into a 45 metre-deep sinkhole that suddenly opened beneath his feet, and people began to leave this place in earnest. Centralia's population dwindled from over 1,000 residents in 1981 to just 9 in 2007. Today, all buildings within the borough have been condemned (you can see in the satellite shots that there are hardly any left now), and the few that remain lost their ZIP codes back in 2002.
To the south we can see a section of Pennsylvania Route 61 which had to be abandoned when, despite repeated repairs, huge smoking cracks kept appearing in the highway. We can see in Google's imagery that today the road is becoming overgrown with plant-life, and yet the cracks in the earth still belch toxic smoke into the air here every day.
In 1994, this section of Route 61 was permanently closed, and we can easily see the road block which is used to direct traffic along Byrnesville Road instead.
As you read this post the underground fire continues to burn, and it is now estimated to underlie around 160 hectares (400 acres) of land.
Furthermore, it seems that this fire will continue to burn for some time to come; there are no current plans to extinguish it and the eight-mile coal seam constitutes enough fuel to last about 250 years.
Read more about Centralia at Wikipedia, explore a photo gallery of the area, or see some before and after shots of a previously inhabited area.
Thanks to George Dorn, greg, David, Rich Holmes, Sensei Sparky and Lars Christensen.
About the author
Alex has decided that his title will be Senior Vice President of Stuff.
Looks like there’s a few people driving around in cars. Awesome find.
https://www.googlesightseeing.com/maps?p=&c=&t=k&hl=en&ll=40.804274,-76.340641&z=19
I remember watching this on the news back in the 70’s for either the 10th or the 15th anniversary of the fire. It’s just amazing that this has burned for so long.
Not much to look at (for obvious reasons) but amazing story. Couldnt they harness the energy somehow i wonder? Seems such a waste. Is the town accessible does anyone know?
To the northwest, you can still see what appears to be an active mine.
https://www.googlesightseeing.com/maps?p=&c=&t=k&hl=en&ll=40.807833,-76.360999&z=17
There are cars in town around the few occupied buildings and they built a road around the abandoned section of road, so I assume you can still visit if you want.
Awesome find indeed. Would these suspiciously looking fluffy bits be smoke plumes, or is that just the product of my precipitous mind? https://www.googlesightseeing.com/maps?p=&c=&t=k&hl=en&ll=40.803993,-76.323494&z=19 https://www.googlesightseeing.com/maps?p=&c=&t=k&hl=en&ll=40.802351,-76.328389&z=19 https://www.googlesightseeing.com/maps?p=&c=&t=k&hl=en&ll=40.801618,-76.335306&z=19
@CM: Yes you can visit there, if you wish. The guy that did the photo gallery I linked to describes how to get there and what you can expect: http://www.xydexx.com/modernruins/centralia_things.htm
@dr.R: I suspect those aren’t smoke plumes, simply because there are so many. However In your third link, you appear to have found the graveyard behind which the original fire is said to have started…. so perhaps I’m wrong, and there is more to the fluffy bits?
Dugg
http://digg.com/odd_stuff/Ghost_Town_on_Fire_Since_1962_and_will_continue_for_250_yrs
My parents are from that area, so I used to go through that area all the time. It’s an amazing situation. There used to be site dedicated to it with a forum, but I can’t find it at the moment.
Does anyone else think this might be a cause of global warming?
Quite a young fire 😉
In Australia, there’s a place called Burning Mountain, where a fire is bruning since 6000 years ago. In Europe and Asia there also are a couple of sites with century-old fires.
Nice story! A pleasant diversion reading up on this.
Apparently the fire was set by a guy who buried waste and burned them… without knowing that there was coal below. Quite a scary story anyway.
Think of the thousands of miners died around the world, especially in developing countries, when working to extract coal from dangerous underground mines.
Think of the greenhouse emissions from this fire.
This is a terrible, if not sinful and shameful, waste of natural resources and human dereliction.
I read about this place in one of the Bill Bryson books. He visited and had a poke around. Imagine still living there knowing that the earth immediately below you was on fire. Nuts.
hard to believe the coal/fire could burn. i would think there would not be enough oxygen to keep the fire going.
anyone know of a map showing the coal seam in relation to the town and surrounding area?
This reminds me of Silent Hill.
That is beacuse….
“Centralia was the pre-production codename and a small influence for the movie adaptation of the game Silent Hill.[9]”
…From Wikipedia
The lack of oxygen is why these fires last so long. Coal and rock are good insulators, so the area stays hot, and the trickle of oxygen coming in from various sources lets the fire slowly advance.
I visited this site in October, and haven’t gotten all of the photo’s onto a website. I can say walking around and seeing brick foundations for the chimneys of houses near where there is smoke coming from the ground is quite an experience. There are still houses that people live in. I think we counted about 4. There is a baseball field, and a basketball court that have both become very overgrown, but are still dicernable. It is an odd feeling to walk on ground that feels solid enough, but see HUGE sinkholes and feel the heat and smell the sulfur-ish odor that covers that area is very hard to describe. There are 2 graveyards on the main hill that the fire is burning under. They appeared to be mostly russian orthodox(no expert opinion, just my impression from the types of crosses, and the odd church overlooking that main hill from the hill to the north. Also while my wife and I were walking around taking pictures there was a coal truck that passed by me not 40 feet away as it was headed to/from a mine. I saw simular trucks parked near a very large(i.e. 90-100′ high and 300-400′ long) mound of black rock I assume is coal that they are pulling from somewhere very nearby. There is a tiny lake almost across the street from the mining facility that was an old hunting and fishing lodge. I don’t think I’d trust any fish from that lake.
I once took a tour of this town, about 2 years ago. It was pretty amazing. Back then, there were still some people that refused to move out, despite generous offers from the government.
Thanks for the link! There were still people living in Centralia last time I visited, but every year there are fewer and fewer. Visit soon before it’s all gone!
I think I went there (or at least to a museum near there) on a school trip in 2002 or 2003.
Also, I really wonder about the nine people who’ve remained in the town!
Interesting story. I would like to vist this town.
Why can’t they put the fire out by just blocking off its air supply? It must be sucking air in through the mineshaft and/or a few other holes…