I live just 16 miles from Centralia Pennsylvania. The mine fire started
there in the 1960's and has been burning out of control since.
When I first moved to NE Pennsylvania, in the 1990's , there was still
something of a village left, albeit sparse. A large Catholic church, post
office, and even a shop. All since gone. Now there is just a scattering of
houses. one or two people determinedly hanging on.
I go up there often, because one of my subjects of interest is the founder
of Centralia, Alexander Rea. It is eerie standing on a road, spotting smoke
rising from fissures in the ground, and smelling the sulfurous fumes of
anthracite burning deep underground.
Especially haunting on a snowy day, to see Centralia not covered in snow
when the rest of the mountain is.
Centralia causes controversy. Some folk (including Rea's great grandson, who
was himself a mine engineer) claim that the fire could have been stopped at
the beginning. Some folk believe it was deliberately set. It is hard to see
old photos of the town, and try to match those with the bleak and naked
streets now.
Every so often another doomed house in the town is torn down, just days
before it's claimed by fire. I try to keep track of each new loss. I often
wonder if the fire will spread to nearby Ashland. Another old mining town.
How many other towns have been lost to such fires I wonder?
Here in Pennsylvania, there was another terrible fire that took out West
Carbondale. It was literally dug out of existence.
Was that a happier end? Brutal to dig a town out of existance, but watching
a town burn slowly away, is agonising to behold.
Fiona Powell
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