Centralia Pennsylvania - This Truth is also stranger than fiction

OtisAir

OtisAir

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OtisAir
Overheard some of my workmates talking today about Centralia Pennsylvania. Seems a fire broke out in a coal mine there in 1962. Guess what??? They weren't ever able to put the fire out and it's STILL burning. The town is pretty much a ghost town now and the mines have been closed off, but the fire continues to burn; could burn for another century.

Before you send flames :nono:, snope it, wiki it, google it... it's the truth.

I thought it pretty interesting to hear about this. I've flown in that area a few times but never noticed any great amount of smoke coming from the ground.

hmmm
 
My Dad is from PA and he tells me that coal fires in PA haved burned for a long Long LONG time.
 
It is a weird place to walk around, various sinkholes and steaming vents, abandoned buildings and junk all over the place. Ever present smell of sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide. Most of the town is gone, but a few held out. Really eerie!!

Gary
 
Shane, you must be relativly new to PA. This was all over the news back in the 70s and was a huge joke for years. The main mine is right on the appalchain trail.
 
Bob Noel said:
My Dad is from PA and he tells me that coal fires in PA haved burned for a long Long LONG time.
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Seems like a sufficient quantity of Halon gas would terminate the fire. Perhaps there's just not enough incentive to spend money on it. I wonder how Obama's cap and trade would affect this kind of thing?
 
gismo said:
Seems like a sufficient quantity of Halon gas would terminate the fire. Perhaps there's just not enough incentive to spend money on it. I wonder how Obama's cap and trade would affect this kind of thing?
Click to expand...

Lance this fire is HUGE and covers a large geographical area. Its not confined to one cavern or mine. Its not as if there are raging flames in a cavern underground it is fire burning along coal seams, mostly smoldering with heat and smoke but not much flame
 
gismo said:
Seems like a sufficient quantity of Halon gas would terminate the fire. Perhaps there's just not enough incentive to spend money on it. I wonder how Obama's cap and trade would affect this kind of thing?
Click to expand...

From time to time the feds have tried to put the fire out -- never works.

Mine fires are not limited to Centralia -- there are mine fires underground in Lemont Furnace, PA -- literally across the street from where I used to work. About 3 years ago they emplaced a whole bunch of vents, but there's not much evidence of the fire above ground.

I drove through Centralia about 20 years ago on a rainy March day. There was no more desolate place on Earth. There were two buildings still standing in town at the time. The rest of the "town" was a series of foundations.

Good site dedicated to the topic here: http://www.centraliaminefire.com/
 
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AdamZ said:
Lance this fire is HUGE and covers a large geographical area. Its not confined to one cavern or mine. Its not as if there are raging flames in a cavern underground it is fire burning along coal seams, mostly smoldering with heat and smoke but not much flame
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My vague recollection is that the fire (I think it's more smoldering than actual flame, something with a limited amount of oxygen, which in turn keeps it from burning as fast as it normally could?) spread into the actual seams of coal, where there's no way to reach it. Not to mention that it's pretty hot down there, noxious, etc.

But yeah, just eery.

[looks at mine across street, decides to stop having bonfires in it]
 
Colorado has coal fires too.


"A new report from the Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology catalogues each of the 32 fires, ranks their danger and points up their fickle and volatile natures. These fires _ some of which have been burning for more than a century _ can be simple curiosities that melt snow, belch smoke and crisp cheat grass. At their worst they can flare with little or no warning and spark wildfires, as happened with a 2002 fire that burned 20,000 acres and 29 homes near Glenwood Springs."
 
In the early 80's when I worked in Harrisburg whihc isn't that far away, we used to joke about the dissapearing paperwork in the company about it "going to Centralia".
 
AdamZ said:
Shane, you must be relativly new to PA.
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Yessir, Born and raised in L.A. - Lower Alabama. Moved to PA at the turn of the century and a lot of folks up here still don't understand me. haha
 
OtisAir said:
Overheard some of my workmates talking today about Centralia Pennsylvania. Seems a fire broke out in a coal mine there in 1962. Guess what??? They weren't ever able to put the fire out and it's STILL burning. The town is pretty much a ghost town now and the mines have been closed off, but the fire continues to burn; could burn for another century.

Before you send flames :nono:, snope it, wiki it, google it... it's the truth.
Click to expand...

I've seen it with my own eyes.

web.jpg
 
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