Centralia, Pa. Part 1

A video from 2004 showing what is left of the town of Centralia, Pa. There is an underground coal fire burning. And through the inept, cheap and shortsighted inaction of goverment, the town is all but empty.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Centralia
• Pennsylvania
• coal
• fire
• underground

[jvoe3211]

What is this song? Hauntingly beautiful.

[Lostsocks]

@jvoe3211 i put it together in Garageband

[b89gr0711]

I live close to here and I've heard that it's actually really dangerous to go there because the people that live there are really against people coming into the town. I don't know if this is true I have yet to visit but I'd like to someday. It is a very sad story

[Lostsocks]

I don't think the people are hostile or unfriendly. I think they may get a little annoyed sometimes. Just like anyone else they deserve their privacy.

As long as you don't go on their property, and leave them alone and don't cause a problem, I don't think they mind, at least I hope they don't mind

[stormrider66]

very well crafted. Very well produced and very moving! Powerful, silence is the enemy of this poor lost town. If the government would have stepped in this once thriving town may yet still be here, but instead it is reduced to ruble and the mindless fools come every year to kick her down a little further.

[filthyphillyboy]

ladylilith- Buy the book Unseen Danger: A Tragedy of People, Government, and the Centralia Mine Fire. (Amazon) 1962: landfill garbage supposedly incinerated by the borough ignited a coal seam below, but gov. stalled & by the time they did anything the fire was too big. It was a game of catch-up & the fire kept winning. The ground underneath Centralia is honeycombed w/dozens of miles of mining tunnels. Much of the coal underneath is on fire. You might as well try to extinguish Hell!

[JakeAmick]

Do what they did in the simpsons giant glass dome over city will stop the fire by suffocating it and the 11 residents.

[ASHL3YSK8]

@DariusIulius It's no different at night, it's actually pretty cool.

[hmcgill911]

What is sad is that if the fire isn't put out, the coal seems lead to other towns. Mount Carmel would be a direct hit. The type of coal that was burning is very intense. Once it gets started, there is no stopping. They would have had to gain control with in a twenty four hour time frame in order to stop it. Although by the time the U.S Government was alerted, it was too late. If you want to blame anyone, Blame the Mayor an the local government for failing to report this to MSHA and others

[triptoheaveandho]

@Lostsocks

oh my god you wrote this ? seriously ? its stunning.. i wish i had it to listen to... its very affecting

[s4a4v4y]

today Oboma is spending about 200 million a day for his trip to china + 37 war ships sitting at sea in waiting..that is equal to the spending on the iraq war......but they won't spend on this tragedy..coal burning is the number release of mehtil mercury which is the most toxic of poisons 2 days ago they tested 192 freshwater fish and 192 tested positive for mercury..I read the report..dept. of enviromental protection DID NOT test for methil mercury, they tested for other forms instead....why ?

[catlarry]

I remember reading about the Centralia fire decades ago in Life magazine. I didn't realize the thing was still on fire.

[wwfundertakerfan1]

The gov. actually knows how to put fire out and save coal but at the time they didn't want to waste their time because the need for the coal wasnt there but now that economy is rough they will be reconsidering it

[Gunfighter1b]

@hunterkiller45 The feds did try to put out the fire. It was just deemed to be impossible to do it because of the vast supply of coal. They would have had to build a pipeline to the Atlantic to get enough water in to do it.

[hunterkiller45]

wow incredible that the us gov still hasnt stepped in and tried to put the fire out,its a shame that the whole town has been levelled it should have been left as a warning to us ,that we cant take everything for granted,and we still carry one raping mother earth today,god protect the people still there .