Centralia (Pennsylvania)

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Centralia
Map of Centralia before the coal fire
Map of Centralia before the coal fire
Location in Pennsylvania
Centralia (Pennsylvania)
Centralia
Centralia
Basic data
Foundation : 1841 (1866 inc.)
State : United States
State : Pennsylvania
County : Columbia County
Coordinates : 40 ° 48 ′  N , 76 ° 21 ′  W Coordinates: 40 ° 48 ′  N , 76 ° 21 ′  W
Time zone : Eastern ( UTC − 5 / −4 )
Residents : 5 (as of 2017)
Population density : 8.3 inhabitants per km 2
Area : 0.6 km 2  (approx. 0 mi 2 ) of
which 0.6 km 2  (approx. 0 mi 2 ) is land
Height : 445 m
Postcodes : 17921 (invalid)
Area code : +1 570
FIPS : 42-12312
GNIS ID : 1171508
Road torn open by fire

Centralia is a municipality ( English Borough ) in the eastern coal mining district of Pennsylvania . It is best known for a coal fire under the urban area that has existed since 1962 , which makes the region almost uninhabitable: The population fell from around 2500 in 1981 to 5 in 2017.

Geographical location

According to the United States Census Bureau , the borough has a total area of ​​0.6 km², excluding land.

Within Centralia is the eastern end of Pennsylvania State Route 61 ; the Pennsylvania State Route 42 leads in a north-south direction through Centralia.

history

Early settlement phase

Johnathan Faust opened Bull's Head Tavern in 1841 . In 1854 the civil and mining engineer Alexander W. Rea moved here. This was an employee of the Locust Mountain Coal and Iron Company . He laid out a road network. The place was named Centerville because of its location, which it carried until 1865. That year the US Postal Service opened a post office and it was named Centralia. In 1866 Centralia was incorporated as a borough.

The anthracite coal industry was the largest employer in the community. The mining was operated until the 1960s, when most companies shutdowns. Wild mining existed until 1982 and opencast mining is still practiced today. An underground mine about five kilometers to the west employs about 40 workers.

The parish was also a focus of activity for the Irish Miners' Association of Molly Maguires during the 1860s and 1870s. Alexander Rea, the city's founder, was one of the victims of the secret society. He was murdered outside the city on October 17, 1868. Three people were convicted of the crime and hanged on March 25, 1878 in the county seat of Bloomsburg. During this time, more murders and arson occurred.

The place was served by two railways, the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad and the Lehigh Valley Railroad , the latter being the more important. Rail traffic was stopped in 1966. The place had its own schools, including a high school. Centralia once had seven churches, five hotels, two theaters, 27 saloons, a bank, a post office and 14 shops. In the time when Centralia lived from anthracite coal mining, the place had a population of up to over 2000 inhabitants. Another 500 to 600 people lived in adjacent areas.

Coal fire

Warning sign on the edge of the restricted area

There are several theories about the origin of the coal fire. One assumes that the fire was caused by the deliberate ignition of the municipal landfill . Five members of the Centralia Volunteer Fire Brigade were commissioned by the city council to "clean up" the landfill by incineration before Memorial Day . The landfill had previously been moved to a charred opencast mine. According to this theory, the fire jumped to the coal at the edges of the opencast mine and from there spread under the urban area. The landfill should have been sealed against the coal seams with a layer of clay , but this work was not yet completed.

Federal agencies have made several attempts to smother the fire since the mid-1960s. In 1965, workers bored holes in the ground and pumped 122,500 tons of fly ash and 90,200 cubic meters of sand into them. They drove over 46,200 cubic meters of land with excavators and trucks and tried to stop the fire by means of a wall made of 14,600 cubic meters of clay, but this did not contain its spread. The fire jumps over all barriers and continues to eat its way through the coal seams. To date, over $ 70 million has been spent attempting to extinguish the fire without achieving lasting success.

The Centralia fire is one of 112 active coal fires in the United States.

present

The authorities no longer plan to fight the fire. Scientists estimate that the existing anthracite coal underground on an area of ​​approx. 15 km² can feed the fire for another 100 to 200 years. In 2010 there were still five households that were able to withstand the evictions. The residents have been granted a right of residence for life.

According to recent measurements, the air quality in Centralia is just as good as in the distant city of Lancaster . In particular, there are no more open signs of fires in 2015, including no smoke development.

In 2010 allegations were made that the compulsory evacuation of the inhabitants was not necessary until 1993, but served the purpose of making the land and thus the mining rights of the region accessible to large coal-mining companies. There are up to 21 coal seams made of particularly high-quality coal under Centralia and the associated properties. Only one of them caught fire.

Trivia

  • Centralia served as a template for the fictional city "Silent Hill" in the video game adaptation of the same name, Silent Hill .
  • In a series of Future Without People , Centralia is used as an example to show what the world will look like 25 years after people.
  • In the episode “… and the burning city” of the youth book series Die Drei ??? and the radio play based on it (episode 166), Centralia is the setting for the main plot.
  • Dorothee Elmiger's novel Invitation to the Daredevils takes place in an environment that is heavily inspired by Centralia and also devastated by a coal fire.
  • The American singer / songwriter William Fitzsimmons released a song about Centralia on his album Lions .

See also

Web links

Commons : Centralia (Pennsylvania)  - collection of pictures, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Centralia Loses Another Resident, Home Abandoned. In: centraliapa.org. January 2, 2017, accessed September 17, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Kevin Krajick: Fire in the Hole. In: smithsonianmag.com . May 2005, accessed October 6, 2019 .
  3. ↑ David DeKok: Fire Underground: The Ongoing Tragedy of the Centralia Mine Fire . Revised edition. Rowman & Littlefield, 2009, ISBN 978-0-7627-5824-1 , pp. 22 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed June 15, 2020]).
  4. ↑ Associated Press: Suit claims 'massive fraud' over Centralia Mine fire , March 9, 2010
  5. ↑ money tripping: Pennsylvania , August 24, 2015
  6. ↑ Patrick Nix: William Fitzsimmons, February 13, 2014, Radiohaus, Potsdam. schmetterlingsflugsimualtor.de, February 14, 2014, archived from the original on October 31, 2014 ; accessed on October 4, 2019 (original website no longer available).