Centralia - A town that has been burning for 50 years

[Scarlett.]

http://www.moviesharkdeblore.com/assets/images/Centralia_-_2001_-_Centralia_Photo_Archive.jpg

In May 1962, Centralia Borough Council hired five members of the volunteer fire company to clean up the town landfill, located in an abandoned strip mine pit next to the Odd Fellows Cemetery. This had been done prior to Memorial Day in previous years, when the landfill was in a different location. The firefighters, as they had in the past, set the dump on fire, and let it burn for a time. Unlike in previous years, however, the fire was not extinguished.

In her 2007 book about Centralia, Joan Quigley asserts that the fire began on May 27 when one of the two commercial haulers serving the borough "hurled hot ashes onto the dump." Quigley cites "interviews with volunteer firemen, the former fire chief, borough officials, and several eyewitnesses, as well as contemporaneous borough council minutes" as her sources for this explanation of the fire.

The fire remained burning in the lower depths of the garbage and eventually spread through a hole in the rock pit into the abandoned coal mines beneath Centralia. Attempts to extinguish the fire were unsuccessful, and it continued to burn throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Adverse health effects were reported by several people due to the carbon monoxide produced.

In 1979, locals became aware of the scale of the problem when a gas-station owner inserted a stick into one of his underground tanks to check the fuel level. When he withdrew it, it seemed hot, so he lowered a thermometer down on a string and was shocked to discover that the temperature of the gasoline in the tank was 172 °F (77.8 °C). State-wide attention to the fire began to increase, culminating in 1981 when 12-year-old Todd Domboski fell into a sinkhole four feet wide by 150 feet (46 m) deep that suddenly opened beneath his feet. He was saved after his older cousin pulled him from the mouth of the hole before he could plunge to his probable death. The incident brought national attention to Centralia as an investigatory group – including a state representative, a state senator, and a mine safety director – was coincidentally on a walking tour of Domboski's neighborhood at the time of his incident.


In 1984, Congress allocated more than $42 million for relocation efforts. Most of the residents accepted buyout offers and moved to the nearby communities of Mount Carmel and Ashland. A few families opted to stay despite warnings from state officials.

In 1992, Pennsylvania claimed eminent domain on all properties in the borough, condemning all the buildings within. A subsequent legal effort by residents to have the decision reversed failed. In 2002, the United States Postal Service revoked Centralia's ZIP code, 17927.

[Scarlett.]

And this is how it is today
A handful of occupied homes remain in Centralia. Most of the buildings have been razed, and at a casual glance the area now appears to be a meadow with several paved streets through it. Some areas are being filled with new-growth forest. Most of Centralia's roads and sidewalks are overgrown with brush, although some areas appear to be mowed. The remaining church in the borough holds weekly Saturday night services, and the borough's four cemeteries are still well-maintained. Centralia's cemeteries now have a far greater population than the town, including one on the hilltop that has smoke rising around and out of it.

The only indications of the fire, which underlies some 400 acres (1.6 km²), spreading along four fronts, are low round metal steam vents in the south of the borough, and several signs warning of underground fire, unstable ground, and carbon monoxide. Additional smoke and steam can be seen coming from an abandoned portion of Pennsylvania Route 61, the area just behind the hilltop cemetery, and various other cracks in the ground scattered about the area. Route 61 was repaired several times until its final closing. The current route was a detour around the damaged portion during the repairs and became a permanent route in the mid-1990s, thus abandonment occurred to the old route with mounds of dirt being placed at both ends of the former route, effectively blocking the road. Pedestrian traffic is still possible due to a small opening about two feet wide at the north side of the road, but this is very muddy and not accessible to the disabled. The underground fire is still burning and will continue to do so for the indefinite future. There are no current plans to extinguish the fire, which is consuming an eight-mile seam containing enough coal to fuel it for 250 years.

One of the few remaining houses was notable for the five chimney-like support buttresses along each of two opposite sides of the house, where the house was previously supported by a row of adjacent buildings before they were demolished. This home was demolished in September 2007. Another house with similar buttresses is visible from the northern side of the cemetery, just north of the burning, partially subsumed hillside.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania did not renew the relocation contract at the end of 2005, and the fate of the remaining residents is uncertain.

It is expected that many former residents will return in 2016 to open a time capsule buried in 1966 next to the veterans' memorial

[Xander]

Ooo thanks for that, kinda spooky in a way I suppose.

[Scarlett.]

Yah, lol theres only 9 people living there now

[rayheartbliss]

this for real?

[BapStar]

Maybe theres like some real ****** up burning waste underneath the soil ?

[Ninastar]

I cba to read all of it.
Is it basiaclly a town that for ever burns?:tounge:

[Scarlett.]

Yeah, theres a coal mine that is burning under the ground

[Tom4784]

That's really creepy actually. I'd never know why people would want to stay there, it seems pretty dangerous.

[Scarlett.]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/00/Centralia_smoke_rising.jpg
CENTRALIA, Pa. – Standing before the wreckage of his bulldozed home, John Lokitis Jr. felt sick to his stomach, certain that a terrible mistake had been made.

He'd fought for years to stay in the house. It was one of the few left standing in the moonscape of Centralia, a once-proud coal town whose population fled an underground mine fire that began in 1962 and continues to burn.

But the state had ordered Lokitis to vacate, leaving the fourth-generation Centralian little choice but to say goodbye — to the house, and to what's left of the town he loved.

"I never had any desire to move," said Lokitis, 39. "It was my home."

After years of delay, state officials are now trying to complete the demolition of Centralia, a borough in the mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania that all but ceased to exist in the 1980s after the mine fire spread beneath homes and businesses, threatening residents with poisonous gases and dangerous sinkholes.

More than 1,000 people moved out, and 500 structures were razed under a $42 million federal relocation program.

But dozens of holdouts, Lokitis included, refused to go — even after their houses were seized through eminent domain in the early 1990s. They said the fire posed little danger to their part of town, accused government officials and mining companies of a plot to grab the mineral rights and vowed to stay put. State and local officials had little stomach to oust the diehards, who squatted tax- and rent-free in houses they no longer owned.

Steve Fishman, attorney for the state Department of Community and Economic Development, said "benign neglect" on the part of state and local officials allowed the residents to stay for so long.

No more.

Fishman told The Associated Press that the state is moving as quickly as possible to take possession of the remaining homes and get them knocked down.

"Everyone agreed that we needed to move this along," he said.

In 2006, there were 16 properties left standing. A year ago, the town was down to 11. Now there are five houses occupied with fewer than a dozen holdouts.

Centralia appears to be entering its final days.

The remaining holdouts, weary after decades of media scrutiny, rarely give interviews. But the town's 86-year-old mayor, Carl Womer, said he doubts he'll have to go. Indeed, Lokitis and others believe that elderly residents will be allowed to live out their final years in Centralia — even after a Columbia County judge decides next month how much they should be paid for their homes.

"Nothing's happened. We're still here," said Womer, whose wife, Helen, who died in 2001, was an implacable foe of relocation. "No one's told us to move."

Like Womer, resident John Lokitis Sr., 68, father of Lokitis Jr., was polite but short. "Why worry about it? When it comes, it comes. I don't give a rat's ass," he said, shutting the door.

Those who remain in Centralia like to keep up appearances. In mid-January, Christmas decorations still adorned the street lamps, a large manger scene occupied a corner of the main intersection and a 2010 calendar hung in the empty borough building. But the holdouts are fighting a losing battle. The building's wooden facade is in dire need of a paint job; in the Odd Fellows Cemetery, vandals recently knocked over dozens of tombstones. Nature has reclaimed parts of the town.

In reality, Centralia is already a memory — an intact street grid with hardly anything on it. All the familiar places that define a town — churches, businesses, schools, homes — are long gone.

A hand-lettered sign tacked to a tree near Womer's home directs tourists to a rocky outcropping off the main street where opaque clouds of steam rise from the ground.

"It was a real community, and people loved the place," said author and journalist Dave DeKok, who has been writing about Centralia for 30 years and recently published "Fire Underground," an updated version of his 1986 book on the town. "People lived their entire lives in that town and would have been quite happy to get rid of the mine fire and keep on living there."

With swifter action, DeKok said, that might have been Centralia's destiny.

The fire began at the town dump and ignited an exposed coal vein. It could have been extinguished for thousands of dollars then, but a series of bureaucratic half-measures and a lack of funding allowed the fire to grow into a voracious monster — feeding on millions of tons of slow-burning anthracite coal in the abandoned network of mines beneath the town.

At first, most Centralians ignored the fire. Some denied its existence, choosing to disregard the threat.

That changed in the 1970s, when carbon monoxide began entering homes and sickening people. The beginning of the end came in 1981, when a cave-in sucked a 12-year-old boy into a hot, gaseous void, nearly killing him. The town divided into two warring camps, one in favor of relocation and one opposed.

Finally, in 1983, the federal government appropriated $42 million to acquire and demolish every building in Centralia. Nearly everyone participated in the voluntary buyouts; by 1990, Census figures showed only 63 people remaining.

Two years later, Gov. Robert Casey decided to shut the town, saying the fire had become too dangerous. The holdouts fought condemnation, blocking appraisers from entering their homes. The legal process eventually ground to a halt.

Until recently, Lokitis Jr., who works a civilian job with the state police in Harrisburg, had been one of Centralia's most vocal defenders — star of a 2007 documentary on Centralia. He expressed hope that it could stage a comeback, claiming the fire had gone out or moved away.

State officials say the fire continues to burn uncontrolled and could for hundreds of years, until it runs out of fuel. One of their biggest concerns is the danger to tourists who often cluster around steam vents on unstable ground.

While Lokitis felt he was in no danger, he had little recourse than to move from his late grandfather's two-story row home on West Park Street when an order to vacate arrived, one of two such notices sent last year.

Now living a few miles away, he tacked a sign on the front porch of the old homestead. "REQUIESCAT IN PACE" — rest in peace, it said. "SORRY POP."

He couldn't bear to watch the home get knocked down a few weeks before Christmas. But he couldn't stay away, either, going back after the wrecking crew had finished its work.

"It was part of my life for all 39 years, that house," he said. "It was difficult to leave it and difficult to see it demolished."

Difficult, too, to give up his dream of Centralia's rebirth.

"I'd always hoped the town would come back and be rebuilt," Lokitis said, "but I guess that's never going to happen."

Yahoo!

[sooty]

This is the first time I heard about it or seen it.

In Japan, I have seen smoke like this from aftermath by volcanic eruptions but not by coal burn and 48 years on!!



I like about TiBB is I still learn things like this now and again, otherwise I will never knew.

[Scarlett.]

I know about it because the film version of Silent Hill was based on a coal mine fire :P

[sooty]

I have heard of "Silent Hill" but I have never seen it.

When I have a chance I will try.

[Scarlett.]

Apparently only five people remain there now, and it's rights of being a town have been fully pulled away, though residents are fighting to get it reinstated, sad how this all escalted from some idiots now putting out a landfill fire correctly

Flickr pictures (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rocbolt/sets/72157626100954025/)

ZjtmaCI9_wM

It's been nicknamed "Silent Hill" but I honestly think it's more like Fallout xD

[Iceman]

That truely is creepy :/

[Scarlett.]

What's scary is they spent 30 years living on top of a burning pit without knowing D: it only first became apparent when a kid nearly fell into a sinkhole D:

[Benjamin]

Oh! This is similar to something i'm writing at the moment. Cheers for this Chewy, this is great research for me. :thumbs:


But oh my for the town, brought down by one man. :sad:

[Scarlett.]

There's some good comparison shots of before and after here
http://www.offroaders.com/album/centralia/Centralia-1980s-era.htm

[Boothy]

I'd love to visit the town, just to see what's it like.

[Z]

Gosh that's fascinating and terrifying, it's almost post-apocalyptic! The thing with the match was particularly awe inspiring.

[Benjamin]

Apparently only five people remain there now, and it's rights of being a town have been fully pulled away, though residents are fighting to get it reinstated, sad how this all escalted from some idiots now putting out a landfill fire correctly

Flickr pictures (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rocbolt/sets/72157626100954025/)

ZjtmaCI9_wM

It's been nicknamed "Silent Hill" but I honestly think it's more like Fallout xD

Somebody was talking to me about this place earlier and I remembered this thread. This still fascinates me.

[MTVN]

Wow that's crazy, does actually remind me a bit of Fallout

[Scarlett.]

I wonder if the fire will ever stop burning?

[Novo]

time to rip the earth up and get a few buckets of water down there

[Scarlett.]

Someone got married at the Church there this year

I'm surprised Christabella wasnt the Priest there
http://s11.allstarpics.net/images/orig/v/l/vlfljej7m04lej7l.jpg

[Benjamin]

Someone got married at the Church there this year

I'm surprised Christabella wasnt the Priest there
http://s11.allstarpics.net/images/orig/v/l/vlfljej7m04lej7l.jpg

I wonder how many are left in the town now. (Only just seen your post). :blush:

[Scarlett.]

I wonder how many are left in the town now. (Only just seen your post). :blush:

According to Wikipedia, ten people still live there :D

[Scarlett.]

A few recent pictures

A minehouse
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7015/6689722319_3e0ef607c3.jpg

Christmas time
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7149/6625372549_34dc86248b.jpg

Ironically, a nearby town is named Ashland...

[Me. I Am Salman]

omfg have they heard of firemen

[Scarlett.]

omfg have they heard of firemen

It's impossible to put out veins of coal underground :joker:

[Me. I Am Salman]

It's impossible to put out veins of coal underground :joker:

Not if you work as a team

[Scarlett.]

Not if you work as a team

No, it really is :joker: the veins are miles long and they will ignite like wild fire, they will eventually burn out, but it's gonna be a long time

[MTVN]

I'm sure that if all it took was a few firemen then it would have been put out a long time ago :laugh:

[Me. I Am Salman]

No, it really is :joker: the veins are miles long and they will ignite like wild fire, they will eventually burn out, but it's gonna be a long time

that's what they want you to think

[Scarlett.]

Who? lmfao

[Z]

Still find this really fascinating! And my new flatmate is a fireman, I'm going to bring this up with him tonight.. hahah

[lostalex]

that's what they want you to think

There's something they're not telling us!!! There's a colonial woman on the wing, she's churning butter, She's dressed in colonial garb.

l1suBS0c_Io

[Scarlett.]

Some pics from this year

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7021/6715857021_f5566851d1_z.jpg
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6715838135_1660fcbdd4_z.jpg
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7008/6755849497_68a34a890d_z.jpg
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7154/6669932967_505fa7750a_z.jpg

This **** is creepy looking, apparentley it is a result of steam forcing its way through the ground
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7033/6644924539_c2685e4d4e_z.jpg

Steam coming from the ground
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7155/6645240841_02c2578404_z.jpg

[GypsyGoth]

I think it's great the way it's real life.

[Benjamin]

http://coolinterestingstuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Centralia-Penn.-1.jpg

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_koimdtuiOt1qzmws8o1_500.jpg

http://photorator.com/photos/images/abandoned-highway-covered-in-graffiti-centralia-pa--17599.jpg

http://gdb.rferl.org/2AF9A5E3-AE63-4128-B327-F21E217F82A6_mw800_s.jpg

[MTVN]

Seems there's only 6 people left there now, but they have won the right to stay there for the rest of their lives

http://articles.mcall.com/2013-10-31/news/mc-centralia-residents-win-right-to-stay-20131031_1_centralia-residents-homes

[Z]

Is the fire still burning, do we know?

[Scarlett.]

The few remaining residents of a Pennsylvania coal town that was largely razed in the 1980s because of an underground mine fire that still burns today have gotten their wish — to be left alone, free to live out their lives there.

A lengthy battle over eminent domain culminated this week when eight residents of Centralia settled their lawsuit against state officials who had been trying to evict them from their condemned homes. The settlement, notice of which was filed in U.S. District Court, allows the residents to stay for as long as they live. It also includes a cash payout of $349,500.

"Everybody got what we wanted, and everybody's happy now," resident Tom Hynoski, 52, said Thursday.

The mine fire was ignited in 1962 and eventually spread to the vast network of mines beneath homes and businesses, threatening residents with poisonous gases and dangerous sinkholes. By the end of the 1980s, more than 1,000 people had moved and 500 structures been demolished under a $42 million federal relocation program.

But some holdouts refused to go, even after their houses were seized in the early 1990s. They said the fire posed little danger to their part of town, accused government officials and mining companies of a plot to grab the rights to billions of dollars' worth of anthracite coal, and vowed to stay put.

After years of letting them be, state officials decided a few years ago to take possession of the homes. The homeowners fought back with a federal lawsuit.

Hynoski, who has long contended that government corruption involving the coal rights was behind the state's drive to force them out, claimed vindication.

"They bent us, but they didn't break us," he said.

State officials have long denied any such plot to grab the coal rights and say they sought possession of the properties out of public safety concerns.

Last year, a geologist with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection said the fire may have gone deeper underground but still poses a threat because it has the potential to open up new pathways for deadly gases to reach the remaining homes. But residents say that's nonsense and point out that they've lived for decades in their homes without incident.

The agreement includes $218,000 to compensate residents for the value of their homes and $131,500 to settle additional claims raised in the lawsuit, according to Steve Kratz, spokesman for the state Department of Community and Economic Development, a defendant in the suit.

The mine fire has transformed Centralia into a macabre tourist attraction. There's an intact street grid with almost nothing on it, clouds of steam waft from the cracked earth, and visitors gawk at the ruins of an abandoned highway.

But the homes that remain are neatly kept, and this week's settlement means that Centralia as a town has not yet breathed its last.

"They get to live in their property and enjoy it the rest of their life," said the plaintiffs' attorney, Don Bailey. "We did very well."

Source (http://bigstory.ap.org/article/pa-residents-living-above-mine-fire-free-stay)

[Scarlett.]

How the town is looking these days

d7IVDkLDLFs

[Benjamin]

No idea what reminded me of Centralia. Crazy to think 5 people still there after all this time.

iglTQmID_ZU

[Scarlett.]

I believe they've covered the old graffitied highway that lead into town now, sadly, weird to think that in a few decades the remnants of the town will be gone too

[Mystic Mock]

I believe they've covered the old graffitied highway that lead into town now, sadly, weird to think that in a few decades the remnants of the town will be gone too

It's sad to think about tbh.

[Benjamin]

I believe they've covered the old graffitied highway that lead into town now, sadly, weird to think that in a few decades the remnants of the town will be gone too

I love to visit the place, before it’s gone for good.

[Ammi]

…it’s incredibly sad, really…I recall you posting about this through time here, Scarlett…we all know of ‘ghost towns’ but to see it actually unfold is just so, so sad…it’s easy to see its beauty as well…