If you don’t live in Pennsylvania then you probably haven’t heard of Centralia, PA. The long standing history of coal mining in Centralia has left it an abandoned ghost town.
Abandoned Highway in Centralia, Pennsylvania
Starting in 1962, the town of Centralia started to burn trash in an abandoned mine, which connected to a coal vein. The constant burning of trash eventually ignited the coal vein setting off a huge fire. Fire officials thought they had put out the fire, but a few days later the fire reignited. The fire was thought to be extinguished but it was not and erupted again. Eventually, the coal began to burn underground. For two decades, fire and government officials worked hard to extinguish the underground fire but all of their efforts failed. In the 1980s, over 400 acres of land and communities were forced to evacuate because of the dangerous levels of carbon monoxide. In 1984, Congress allocated $42 million dollars for the evacuation process. Most Centralia residents moved to the nearby towns of Ashland and Mount Carmel, although a few families did choose to remain in Centralia. In 2002, the United States Postal Service revoked Centralia’s zip code, further erasing Centralia off the map.
Without knowing the history, a passerby wouldn’t know what hit Centralia. The only visible indications of the fire are low metal steam vents and the numerous warning signs of fire and high levels of carbon monoxide. On an abandoned portion of Route 61 steam and smoke can be seen coming up through the cracks in the road.
47 years later and $40 million dollars later, the fire still burns through the underground coal mines. A 1983 study indicated that the fire could continue to burn and affect 37,000 acres. Currently, the fire will continue to burn for a predicted 250 years and may spread to nearby towns.
It is unclear how the fire started, but it is clear that coal has proved to be a viable threat to the rural communities of Pennsylvania. We have been using extreme and dangerous avenues for energy that are destroying our environment. seen through the dramatic and small example of Centralia. It is time to look towards renewable energy sources to fuel our country in a clean manner, like solar energy. Find out more information about the environmental benefits of going solar.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow, that is an amazing story!
This might be the perfect time to bring this fire to the attention of the present administration to stop the wasting of our energy resources and terrible toxic pollution to our air and water from this historical fire that is continuing to destroy American towns and waste our valuable resources. We need a mentor to become a great hero organization if they would help us turn that fire into an energy research site to stop the pollution, and save the resources. We can do this by turning one finger of the fire into an Underground Coal Gasification project, a second finger into a methanogen gas generator with our foam injection microbes that turn CO2 into cleaner burning methane with no toxic ash, and the third finger into a CO2 sequestration project to store the gas in the voids that are created by the wasteful fire and for surface bio-diversity projects such as the algae that need the CO2 to create diesel technology, and to help control the other projects of the fire.
And to turn this disaster into a national monument to American ingenuity and research into energy and JOBS for the productive future, instead as a symbol of environmental failure and destruction of towns and citizens hopes and health.
This is not a pipe dream, it’s doable. The Buchannan and Pinnacle mines were much deeper, and more difficult than the Centralia fire will be, we extinguished those fires. The valuable anthracite coal should not be squandered as it is now. The toxic ash that is being created by the fire is being washed with ground water and the benzene and hundreds of other toxic compounds created by incomplete combustion of coal are migrating into other water resources, the benzene can be bio-remediated with our Navy QAC foam technology, the toxic smoke is being allowed to mix with the air we breath, we can stop that.
I found your blog via Google while searching for coal mining pollution, thank you for posting ange Story of the Underground Coal Fire In Centralia, PA | Sweet Solar Home!
Thank you for the post, I am really wondering how can I use this to create my own blog post.
amazing stuff thanx
You should be an expert.