On May 27, 1962, a small fire was believed to be contained at a landfill in Centralia Pennsylvania.
The town had just tossed their refuse from the year in preparation for the annual Memorial Day parade and celebrations.. What the firefighters did not know–and no one else did either–was that a coal mine underneath the landfill had caught fire.
What began in 1962 has continues to today: An odyssey into government confusion, town chaos, a legal battle, and a hamlet of 2000+ turning into a ghost town of overgrown grass and only about 7 people in homes, refusing to leave even though government edicts have demanded their exit from the location…
Today where my home stood, a tree now grows.. It’s amazing how large it has become.
All because of a mine fire 300 feet down–one that caused people to keep canaries in their basements just in case carbon monoxide took the wrong path and ended up in their concrete fortress..
But how did this fire start?
Welcome to the mixed bag of history..
According to reports at the time, in May 1962, Centralia Borough Council hired five members of the volunteer fire company to clean up the town landfill that was located in an abandoned strip mine pit next to the Odd Fellows Cemetery.
This had been done prior to Memorial Day in previous years, when the landfill was in a different location.
As they always did, the firefighters set the dump on fire, and let it burn for a time. Unlike in previous years, however, the fire was not extinguished.
Another more controversial story comes from Joan Quigley’s 2007 book: The theory goes that one of two trash haulers dumped hot ash or coal discard from coal burners into the open trash pit. The borough, by law, was responsible for installing a fire-resistant clay barrier between each layer but had fallen behind. This action allowed the hot coals to penetrate the vein of coal underneath the pit and subsequent subterranean fire.
Quigley cites “interviews with volunteer firemen, the former fire chief, borough officials, and several eyewitnesses, as well as contemporaneous borough council minutes” as her sources for this explanation of the fire..
The Day the Earth Caved In: An American Mining Tragedy
The 1970s and 80s featured fear and eminent domain..the town was made famous by a tourist attraction called Graffiti Highway, though none of the paint was ever sanctioned by anyone..
This may sound kind of corny, but there are six minutes of a ill-fated 1980s movie called MADE IN USA with Christopher Penn that best conjures memory and nostalgia for me.. Take a look at this movie, if you have the chance..
The scenes were filmed in Centralia at the height of the mine-fire buyout and destruction of properties.
And it’s these six minutes I often go back to now and then–today for example–to refine my sense of nostalgia and purposely remember all that is now non-existent..
All of those memories stay.. but there are no more houses to put them in..
A fateful Memorial Day weekend in 62… Back last century. It changed everything.
