Centralia, PA (Mine Fire)

[Thordic]

[Repost from Thorums]

In 1961, a trash fire in a junkyard in the small town of Centralia, PA hit an exposed vein of coal, sparking a fire that spread under the town, and still burns to this day. The town has long since been evacuated, and they estimate there is enough coal in the vein to fuel the fire for another 250 years. Although fairly obscure, the town has been the inspiration behind Silent Hill (game and movie), and the movie Nothing But Trouble.

On the way back from my friends graduation party, we stopped to check it out (me, Archibald, Kev, and Cristina). While it wasn't as cool as I hoped, it was definitely worth the stop. I wish we had more time to explore, but we were all tired and had to get back so we only walked around for about an hour.

What we saw was pretty cool. It was very windy, so the smoke dissapated pretty quick. It was probably a good thing, as the fumes smell pretty bad and can't be good for you.

Here are some pics:


Cristina wanted to stay in the car when she saw the sign, but we finally managed to coax her to come along with us.


Burnt Hillside, you can see some of the smoke coming out in the middle. The air around this area stank pretty bad, the fumes were bad here, even with the wind.


The junkyard where the fire started 45 years ago. It looks cooler in real life, and smells pretty awful as well.


A mine vent, these are all over the place. Not sure what purpose they serve, I guess pressure could build up otherwise. There is a DEP air monitoring station nearby to keep track of the fire emissions.


Large crack down the middle of Route 61. They re-routed the highway around this section.


Wasteland. There is smoke coming out of the ground over a lot of this area, and parts of the ground are warm to the touch.


Heres a few links if you want to read/see more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania

http://www.offroaders.com/album/centralia/centralia.htm

http://www.u-town.com/centralia/index3.htm

[bentothejam1n]

I remember seeing it on the history channel awhile back
I don't remember the number but it was a ridiculous number of gallons of water to put it out

[Thordic]

I think you'd need a lake.

The fire consumes somewhere between 200-1000 acres of coal vein. I can't seem to find a number. The last estimate said that it'd cost over $600 million to put out the fire, and no one is 100% sure that would even work. It only cost $42 million to relocate all the residents in the 80s, so they did that instead.

There is enough coal underground to fuel the fire for 250 more years, and since there is no effort to put out the fire, it looks like that is what is going to happen.

[slade]

/yay for copy/paste!

a 300 year fire? thats pretty impressive.

i wonder if there is some way to simply starve the entire region of oxygen... think of all the energy being wasted

I don't remember the number but it was a ridiculous number of gallons of water to put it out

then again, less than an inch of rainfall across a square mile is in the millions of gallons...

[Thordic]

Underground fires can burn for tremendous amounts of time.

There is a coal fire in Australia that they estimate has been burning for six THOUSAND years.

The worst coal fire on the planet is in China, I found one crappy pic somewhere, but can't find any good ones. The fires have thoroughly cracked the surface of the region, it literally looks like hell.

There are also peat fires, which are sorta the same thing but with peat instead of coal. There is one huge one in Indonesia that puts out a huge amount of pollution, and is a huge contributer to the global rise in CO2.

In 1997, it is estimated that peat and forest fires in Indonesia released between 0.81 and 2.57 Gt of carbon; equivalent to 13-40 percent of the amount released by global fossil fuel burning, and greater than the carbon uptake of the world's biosphere.

[Muzikman]

Damn this is odd. I was just talking about heading out there and checking the place out on Saturday.

[Thordic]

We're planning a return visit one of these days (and a 4x4 might come in handy )

[Muzikman]

Seriously, let me know.

I was not aware that people still lived there at all. I saw one picture on one site that said there is still one business still operating in the town, is that true?

[slade]

I was not aware that people still lived there at all. I saw one picture on one site that said there is still one business still operating in the town, is that true?

hey, one resident, you can make your own town laws!

[Thordic]

There used to be an automotive shop in town, but it's gone now.

And slade, there is effectively no government in town. The few citizens who still live there (I've seen the number stated at 11 to 19) are effectively "squatters", but the government hasn't forcibly removed them. I guess state troopers or federal law enforcement could enforce laws there, but from what I can tell, no one really does. The state just took an "out of sight, out of mind" attitude towards the town from what I've seen. The residents just want to be left alone (by the government, they don't seem the mind tourists so long as you aren't being a nuisance or vandalizing property).

I think I've looked at every website on Centralia that Google could find

Muz, Bill (magman) wants to head out as well. He had the idea of possibly renting quads, which is something we are thinking about. There were a ton of people on quads in the area when I was there, and it would definitely make getting around way easier. Aside from the fact that some of the roads are buckled and beat up, there is a very large quarry nearby that might be fun to play around in.

There is also apparently an earthmover graveyard nearby. You know those IMMENSE dumptrucks that they use at quarries and such? Well, when they are dying, they just dump them in a field in Ashland (the next town south from Centralia). That'd be worth finding and checking out as well, those things are freakin' huge.

[Muzikman]

I can get three or four quads and trailer them out there. My uncle has 5 quads ranging from one little 80cc, 2 250's, a 500cc polaris and a new one that I have not seen yet so I am not sure what it is. I also think my X could make it most places a quard would.

[magman007]

Jason, if you can get the quads, just let us know, and i will make sure to get off that day. My father is interested in going as well, it would be a cool photo excursion, and an awesome overall place to explore, especially after seeing silent hill. Hey, we could even set up a geocache there

Lets make sure to not let this idea die.

[slade]

My father is interested in going as well, it would be a cool photo excursion, and an awesome overall place to explore, especially after seeing silent hill

i still say my abandoned military training ground is a better place to explore

[Army]

Guys, just keep it in mind, that the ground has been terribly weakened where the coal is close to the surface. A cave in, with YOU riding it down, is a good possibility. Please be careful. Look at that road pic, and think about where it's going!


After Korea, my post buried thousands of mattresses at the old dump. 5 years ago a grass fire caught a small exposed area, and about 3 acres of underground fire burned for two years. When the first fire truck responded after two days of burning (no-one noticed with all the burnt grass and downed tree smoke), it collapsed into a red hot dome of ash and coals. The guys got out with minor scorching, but the truck exploded in less than 2 minutes.

[Lohman446]

I have to agree with Army on this, its not like the area is that massive, it would be best explored carefully on foot I would think. I'm almost thinking tether ropes might not be going to far, but I'd have to look around to see how stupid that would make me feel.