centralia-final.doc

PHOTOS

Centralia1 — carbon monoxide steam rises from a split in the asphalt along the stretch of Pennsylvania State Highway 61 south of Centralia.

Centralia2—the Anthracite coal pictured here burns hotter than any other coal type and is the fuel for the underground fire that forced the evacuation of Centralia, Pennsylvania.

Centralia: The Great Pennsylvania coal seam fire

By RED Inc., Communications

Anthracite coal ignites at 752 degrees Fahrenheit. And once it gets going, Anthracite coal just burns and burns and burns.

Just ask the folks living in and around the coal mining town of Centralia, Pennsylvania. A bungled clean-up effort at the town landfill ignited a coal seam in May of 1962 and an underground coal fire has burned unchecked ever since — turning the once robust mining community into a modern day ghost town.

Fire in the hole

The abandoned strip mine pit near Centralia’s Odd Fellows Cemetery seemed like a logical place to build a dump site. The mine was considered dead, and the town needed an out-of-the way spot to ditch its waste.

In order to minimize the scope of the dump site, amateur firefighters would set fire to the landfill just prior to Memorial Day and let it burn for several weeks. The firefighters then generally returned to the pit and extinguished the smoldering trash.

In 1962, however, the firefighters chose to wait and let the fire burn out and die. More than four decades later, they are still waiting.

As the 1962 burn crept into the lower depths of the landfill, it apparently ignited an anthracite coal seam from the old mine. That fire smoldered its way underground and is still burning today, causing state highway cave-ins, random sinkhole formations and the mass evacuation of Centralia.

Part of the problem with the Centralia mine fire was the quality of the coal involved. With a carbon content of at least 92 percent, anthracite coal is shiny and more rock-like than most coal. The carbon density makes an Anthracite fire very difficult to ignite and similarly difficult to extinguish.

Just like the premium fuel at the gas station, Anthracite burns hotter and costs more due to its high energy output. Bituminous coal ignites at 572 degrees and lignite coal as low as 400. That makes them basically like the mid-grade and low-grade unleaded gasoline, respectively, at your local gas pump.

Once the Centralia fire got going, it quickly became nearly impossible to snuff. Many attempts were made to douse and smother the fire, but the smoldering anthracite continued its slow burn beneath the town.

Beginning in the late 1970s, residents slowly became aware of the genuine hazard posed by the underground fire. In 1981, Centralia gained national attention when 12-year-old resident Todd Domboski fell partway into a 150-foot deep sinkhole caused by the fire. Domboski was rescued by his cousin, but nothing could rescue the town from a newfound fear spreading from neighborhood to neighborhood.

Todd Domboski’s incident not only spooked the residents of Centralia, it also spooked officials in the Centralia Borough Council, the county of Columbia, the State of Pennsylvania and the United States government. The very thought of a child plunging to his death due to a lack of government intervention was unthinkable.

When Domboski dropped into that steaming, muddy sinkhole back in 1981, his fall also signaled the inevitable fall of Centralia.

Burn, baby, burn

All efforts to save the town of Centralia had failed. In 1984, those efforts switched to saving the people.

The United States Congress made $42 million available for relocation and the majority of Centralia’s residents sold their property to the government and moved away. Eight years later, the State of Pennsylvania claimed eminent domain and condemned all buildings in Centralia, whether commercial or private. Most of the homes and businesses in town were demolished following Pennsylvania’s eminent domain declaration, and native grasses now grow where the old filling station sat.

The fire seam crosses directly beneath the old Pennsylvania Route 61 south of town, causing huge splits in the asphalt and vent clouds of toxic carbon monoxide gas. Road crew after road crew battled with the roadway for decades before closing it for good in 1994 due to pavement buckling.

Steam vents more commonly found in places such as or Yellowstone National Park or Hawaii’s Mount Kilauea now cover hillsides and forested areas in and around Centralia. Some entrepreneur’s wanted to capitalize on the fire-and-brimstone feel of Centralia and change the borough into “Helltown, USA,” complete with tours led by guides dressed up as trident-toting demons.

A sign at the edge of town warns tourists of Centralia’s true hell, reading: “Warning — Danger. Underground Mine Fire. Walking or driving in this area could result in serious injury or death. Dangerous gases are present. Ground is prone to sudden collapse.” Another reads: “Public Alert: Area subject to mine subsidence and toxic gas emissions.”

The anthracite seam courses eight miles through Columbia County and its value, according to residents, is in the billions. The current fire is estimated to cover an area of approximately 400 acres or three-fifths of a square mile. It is estimated the Centralia fire has enough fuel to burn for at least 250 more years along the 8-mile anthracite vein, and no plans are in place to extinguish the fire.

References

DeKok, D. (1986). Unseen danger: A tragedy of people, government, and the Centralia Mine Fire. University of Pennsylvania Press.

Dublin T., and Licht, W. (2005). The face of decline: The Pennsylvania Anthracite region in the twentieth century. Cornell University Press.

Quigley, J. (2007). The day the Earth caved in: An American mining tragedy. Random House.

Nolter, M., and Vice, D. H. (2004). Looking back at the Centralia coal fire: A synopsis of its present status. International Journal of Coal Geology, Volume 59, 1-2, pp. 99-106.