Underground Mine Fire — Centralia, Penn.

Along the lost Route 61,in eastern Pennsylvania, nestled in a hill side is a small town that, as of a census in 2004, has only 18 people residing in nine dwellings. The town of Centralia, Penn. has been burning from an underground coal fire since 1962. Originally, the coal fire began, when during a weekly trash burn in the local dump, a nearby coal vein was caught on fire in turn igniting the underground mine which is still burning 45 years later. The old Route 61 was officially closed in the 1990’s due to the mine fire. The original road has buckled and has cracks in it that make it unsafe for traffic. A new road has been rerouted around and drops you down into the valley of Centralia.

The streets are overgrown with shrubbery that grows up through the cracks in the roads. Vacant lots where homes ones stood, exist in a grid pattern. The few remaining homes have manicured lawns set amongst the overgrown lots juxtaposed right next door. There are aspects of Centralia that show signs of life, a United States flag flaps in the wind on a flagpole, which is the highest point in the city limits. The stillness gives an eerie sense of a bustling coal town that once was.