Burning Town of Centralia

In 1962 a controlled burn was started in a landfill at Centralia PA. The fire made its way into the coal mine beneath the town where, over the years, it spread its way through a network of veins and continues to burn more than 50 years later today.

At its peak this mining community was home to more than 2,000 residents, but as the fire intensified and became more dangerous, many began to flee. After the near death of a boy who in 1981 fell into the mine through a collapse in a yard, the government began evacuation of its remaining citizens. Today, Centralia is home to just a handful of tenacious residents who refuse to leave, under the compromise that once they die or move away their houses will be condemned and destroyed.

Google Centralia and you'll see picture after picture of a land on fire. You won't see much of the fire itself in these pictures, but rather evidence of a land on fire as smoke billows from every crack in the earth. With these images in mind I expected distant smoke would alert us as we were approaching the town, so we were shocked to suddenly find ourselves driving right through the heart of Centralia without any notice - no smoke, no roadblocks, no skull and crossbones danger signs. Just a group of other sightseers indicating to us that this was probably a good place to stop and look around.

The first place we visited was St. Ignatius Cemetery, which for a town of a half dozen residents is surprisingly well kept up. A documentary I watched claimed that many former residents choose to return to Centralia for burial upon their death.

From here we followed the woods along one side of the cemetery and spoke to some teenagers who pointed us in the direction of graffiti road. This is the unofficial name for a section of route 61 that, after having twice been repaired due to sinking into the fire below, was abandoned and rerouted around town. It is the most identifiable part of Centralia, both for the undulations and cracks caused by the road sinking into the fire ...

... and by the graffiti that covers it from one end to the other.

It was on this road that we spent some time talking to a fellow named Roy, who was relaxing on his 4-wheeler while waiting for buddies. By his count he'd been waiting for his friends 3 beers so far, and he was just cracking another one. Roy grew up in a neighboring town minutes from Centralia, and at 50 years of age he'd seen the entire transformation from a once thriving mining community, whose roads he learned to drive on, to the desolate area it was today. On a warm day like this one he told us we probably wouldn't see any smoke, but if you came here on a cold day you could walk through the woods and see steam venting. Also, come here in the winter and you'll find random pockets of melted snow caused by escaping heat. So the fire does continue to burn, even if not as strong as it once did.

We then spent some time riding the streets and looking for the few remaining houses. Roads without upkeep quickly stop resembling roads.

We also came across some of the more ominous warning signs I'd expected to find on the way into town.

In total we saw three houses and one church in our travels that day. The church you cannot miss, it sits halfway up a hilltop and rises above the surrounding trees. We drove to it but did not take pictures as there were a handful of cars and we believed a service was in session, something that made me both sad and happy.

As we were leaving Centralia a couple stopped us in their pickup. They were driving into town for the first time and the girl was wondering if the ground was safe to walk on. Was it hot to the touch? Was there any danger of falling in? This is an impression I suspect many outsiders come into this place with, that it's going to be something resembling the inferno town of Silent Hill - a horror movie inspired by Centralia. But due to the town's emptiness the images for me were mostly those in my imagination.

I left Centralia with a glimpse into the lives of people who, through no fault of their own, were forced to uproot those lives and leave their houses behind. Except for those few who chose not to leave, and to this day still take pride in maintaining their doomed property.