The Town That’s Burned for 60 Years – A Brief Exploration Into the History of Centralia, Pennsylvania

By Visio Roughton

Throughout American history, there are many examples of towns that are erected near or around areas that are rich in natural resources. From gold and silver to gravel coal, many of these towns flourished until the resources ran dry, or it became too costly to continue excavation. As a result life in these towns would dry up as residents willingly departed in search of better opportunities elsewhere.  However, this was not true for every town as accidents or poor response to incidents also spelled disaster for some towns.  

Centralia, Pennsylvania, is one such town abandoned due to an accident that received a poorly handled and timed response. 

The land beneath the town has been burning for just over six decades; what began as a small, controllable landfill fire soon grew in intensity as it ignited coal seams exposed in abandoned coal mines below the city and created an inferno that still burns beneath the surface of the town today. 

The Town of Centralia:

In the mid-19th century, Centralia was a thriving coal mining community. It was officially established in 1866 af from there, the town grew. The allure of the area’s rich coal deposits provided jobs to many incoming people and boosted the local economy. By 1890, the population had risen to 2,761. 

At the height of the town’s history, it boasted a total of a bank, a post office, two theaters, fourteen different schools, and many functioning and active churches, schools, and even hotels.  

But with the start of World War I, many of the men who had been active in the mines departed to enlist in the military, owing to a decline in production that had been so fruitful just years prior. 

During the great depression, Lehigh Valley Coal Company, the institution that owned five of the active mines in Centralia decided to close down production, which left the areas open to unofficial miners who continued to dig for coal. They used a technique called “pillar-robbing,” a process in which they removed coal from the supports of the mineshafts, which contributed to the collapse of many inactive mines. 

  The many years of mining left the ground of Centralia not only weakened but also extremely vulnerable to the possibility of an underground fire. 

The Fire: 

In May of 1962, the Centralia town council discussed methods of cleaning up a local landfill ahead of the town’s Memorial Day celebration. They hired a handful of local volunteer firefighters to set the dump on fire and clean it up in a controlled blaze. Although the exact cause of the fire is still debated (some assert that the landfill fire was never fully put out, while others theorize the blaze began a day prior when someone threw still burning coals or ash into the landfill), the location of where the fire started is more than certain. The landfill itself was a deep hole that sat atop an unsealed section of the old, unused coal mines. Once the fire began in the landfill, it made its way through the empty coal mines, feeding on exposed coal seams and growing in size and intensity. 

Due to the fact the fires were underground, the size of them went largely unnoticed initially. As the trash continued to burn over the next weeks, the fire department continued to respond and douse all the flames that they could see, however, this did not put out the growing fire hidden beneath the town.

Cracks opened in the wall of the landfill, allowing gas and smoke to escape from the burning mine. Art Joyce, mine inspector from a nearby site, was called in to inspect the steam rising from around the still-smoldering trash around June 6th. After running some tests, he came to the realization that the smoke rising from the cracks in the ground was high in carbon monoxide, a gas that typically came from coal fires.

With the fire still burning, state mine inspectors began to conduct almost daily inspections of the mines around Centralia to measure the levels of carbon monoxide. On August 9th, 1962, tests reflected that lethal levels of the gas were present and by the next day, all mines surrounding Centralia had been closed. Though many attempts were made to put out the raging fire, the numerous underground mine tunnels made this a near-impossible feat, and the fire only continued to grow.

The fire continued to burn, and as it grew in size, its heat also intensified. However, residents were not aware of the scale or seriousness of the fire until 1979, when gas station owner John Coddington, who was also mayor at the time, tested the temperature of his fuel and found that it had warmed to 172 °F.

Aftermath:

By 1980, residents of Centralia had started to report health issues that stemmed from constant exposure to carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, as well as low oxygen levels. 

The land beneath the town also continued to weaken, and there were several sinkholes opening up in certain areas without warning. One such incident occurred in 1981 when a 12-year-old boy fell into a sinkhole that opened in his backyard. He was able to hold on to a tree root until his cousin could pull him up and out of the sinkhole. The sinkhole was later measured to have a depth of 150 ft. 

Attention had already started to swirl around the town, and this incident increased the focus people had on the town. 

In 1983, congress allocated more than forty-two million dollars to the residents of Centralia to relocate them. By the late 1980s, only a few residents remained, despite the monetary incentive to move and the risks posed by the continuously burning fire and gasses it was emitting. All efforts to extinguish the fire failed and attempts to do so soon stopped due to its cost, and the reality that the fire had burned so deep that it had become impossible to put out. 

In 1992, then-governor Bob Casey condemned all the buildings within the town, and in 2002, the U.S. postal service ceased service and recognition of the town’s zipcode.   

Sixteen homes in the original town remained in 2006, and this number dwindled to eleven once formal evictions were given to the residents.

By 2010, only five homes remained, and after a long court battle, state officials came to an agreement with the seven remaining residents of Centralia, which would allow them to live the rest of their lives in Centralia, but forbid them from passing on or selling their property in the future. 

The site of Centralia soon became a tourist attraction, and many of the buildings, and the abandoned strip of PA Route 61 leading into the town, were covered in graffiti. “Graffiti Highway” as the strip of cracked road came to be known was covered up with dirt in 2020 in an effort to deter tourists from visiting the area. 

Beyond Centralia:

Coal fires are not unique to Centralia; there are many other examples around the world of similar coal fires that affect the surrounding communities. A coal fire has burned for over a century in Jharia, India, but due to the jobs the coal mining industry provides, many people still live in the surrounding areas, exposed daily to dangerous amounts of toxic gasses. 

Once ignited, coal seams (the layers and veins of coal found underground) can burn for decades, or even centuries, depending on the size of the deposit and the conditions underground. (While this is not a fire that was started by human activity, the Mount Wingen coal fire in Australia is estimated to have been burning for some six thousand years, and it is the oldest known coal fire).

The story of Centralia and the fire beneath it is a fascinating example of how nature can react when affected by human activities. Town now lies largely abandoned and remains an attraction for curious explorers interested in laying eyes on the smoldering ghost of a once bustling mining town. Current estimates say that the fire beneath Centralia could continue to burn for over another 250 years.

*Bonus Fact: Centralia was used as inspiration for the 2006 movie adaptation of the video game Silent Hill. (The video game itself, however, did not use the town for inspiration)