Centralia, PA: The Underground Coal Fire That Turned a Town Into a Ghostly Landscape

Centralia's long-burning coal fire

For more than six decades a coal seam has smoldered beneath Centralia, a former mining borough in northeastern Pennsylvania. What began in 1962 as a fire that spread from a landfill into a network of abandoned mines has since produced a hidden, persistent blaze that vents smoke and gas through fissures in the ground.

From boom town to smoldering landscape

Founded in the mid-19th century and once a thriving mining community, Centralia reached its population peak in the late 1800s. By the 20th century the town depended on coal extraction and the rail lines that carried it out of the valley. Today, the borough is best known for cracked pavement, charred trees and hundreds of steam- and smoke-emitting openings in the earth.

How the fire started and response efforts

The blaze beneath Centralia was first noticed in 1962 after a fire spread from a town landfill into the abandoned mine workings. Despite repeated suppression attempts through the 1970s and early 1980s—efforts that cost millions—the fire proved resistant to containment. In the early 1980s roughly $3.5 million in suppression work had failed, and federal relocation programs that followed increased spending into the tens of millions.

Federal buyouts, demolitions and holdouts

After containment efforts failed, the federal government approved large-scale buyouts and relocation in the 1980s (contemporary reports cite roughly $42–$43 million in approved funding). Many properties were purchased and demolished, roads were abandoned or rerouted (including a section of Route 61), and the borough’s buildings and institutions gradually disappeared.

A small group of residents resisted buyouts and eminent-domain seizures. Legal challenges in the 1990s culminated in a 2013 settlement that allowed remaining homeowners to retain their properties for the rest of their lives and included a settlement payment (reported as $349,500 as part of the agreement). By the 2020 census, five people were still recorded living within borough limits.

Visible dangers: heat, sinkholes and toxic vents

Heat rising through vents in the ground has been intense enough for residents in the early 1980s to demonstrate by frying an egg over a fissure. Underground temperatures have been reported to reach as high as 1,400°F in places. The landscape is also pockmarked with ash piles, irregular subsidence and sinkholes that can endanger people and animals; a child’s near-fatal fall into a sinkhole in 1981 prompted additional departures.

Scale and longevity of the fire

Estimates vary, but the fire has been described as affecting roughly 350 acres and burning 300–400 feet beneath the surface. Because the blaze occupies a deep, inaccessible coal seam and suppression would be extremely costly, officials have warned it could continue for many decades—possibly another 100 years or more.

Cultural memory, tourism and local life

The town’s eerie, smoke-streaked landscape inspired the 2006 horror film Silent Hill and has attracted tourists curious to see the phenomenon. Remaining residents say some visitors trespass, damage property and treat private yards like abandoned relics. In 2014 residents opened a time capsule buried in 1966 after water damage was detected; many items were ruined, and the premature opening disappointed some former residents who had hoped for a reunion tied to the original schedule.

“People have called it a ghost town, but I look at it as a town that's now full of trees instead of people. And truth is, I'd rather have trees than people.”

Historical notes

Centralia was founded in 1866; its growth was aided by nearby rail lines built to serve the coal industry. The town’s population peaked in the late 19th century. Since 2002 the U.S. Postal Service revoked Centralia’s ZIP code (17927), requiring remaining residents to use post office boxes in neighboring communities.

Editor's note: This article synthesizes reporting and public records about Centralia’s long-burning coal fire and the social, legal and environmental consequences for the borough and its residents.