Originally Posted by
mstateglfr
I went down a rabbit hole a few months ago when I read about the last 60 years of the fire. It's wild- from the multiple instances of incompetence that likely led to its start, to the handful of people who distrust the government(coal rights if the town ceases to exist) and were allowed to stay, to the water geysers that explode in towns miles away due to underground air pressure and water table levels.
Yeah. Crazy happenings: I rode through in 2014. There were still some houses left. Someone had put up cardboard signs to denote some of the street names.
Antracite coal is relatively hard. More difficult to get burning, but once you do, it’s tougher to put out. It’s still mined up that way and used in industrial applications. It’s also still used to heat older houses. I have a friend who lives about 35 miles from Centralia. Her house is heated by coal.
Anthracite loading area near Mahanoy City, PA I rode passed in 2022:
Fun fact: The recognized inventor of cable TV, John Walson, was from Mahanoy City, and it was the first place to have CATV.