In 1962 an exposed vein of coal in an abandoned strip mine caught on fire on the eastern side of Pennsylvania and it burned under ground for...
...what is it today? 2010?
For 48 years.
For 48 years the vein burned, getting its oxygen from an abandoned coal mine. And it burns today, still venting noxious, toxic gasses out of the earth, bleaching trees, killing the vegetation and wildlife, creating sink holes when the underground coal is turned to ash.
And here we come to the fate of the once quaint town of Centralia, Pennsylvania, which stands right atop the burning vein.
Settled in 1841, the city's population hovered near 2000 for much of its existence.
Now just 9 people live there. In the year 2002 the US Post Office revoked its zip code.
Deadly levels of carbon monoxide rise from the ground and waft through the town. A permanent detour along highway 61 routes people around the town whose main street was once a thoroughfare for 61.
Efforts were made to put the fire out with water, and to cut off the coal vein underground. But nothing worked. The fires continued to burn. Sink holes began swallowing and cracking parts of the town. And in 1984, 1600 citizens were forced to relocate. The technology or the will to put out the fire did not exist...at least not at a cost the state or nation was willing to pay. So the whole town was just abandoned.
The vein is still burning and has also claimed the town of Byrnesville, population 100. The underground fire is still making its way south to the town of Ashland, population 3200. It is believed there is enough fuel for the fire to burn for another 1000 years.