The Town That Has Been Burning for 60 Years

In 1962, a small Pennsylvania town burned its landfill before a holiday weekend. The fire found a coal seam, and it has been burning underground ever since. This is how Centralia went from more than a thousand residents to five, why the state took the houses, and why nobody can put the fire out. Chapters 0:00 A town where the ground is warm 0:30 Where Centralia is and why it matters 1:05 The dump fire of 1962 1:40 Twenty years of half-measures 2:15 The backyard sinkhole 3:00 The buyout 3:45 The holdouts 4:30 The Graffiti Highway 5:15 Why it can't be put out 6:10 What's left Sources in the pinned comment. Photos: U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1969, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons · Jrmski, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons · Codyrt, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons · LaesaMajestas, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons · James St. John, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Scott Drzyzga, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Mredden, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Doug Kerr, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Mr. Matté, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons · formulanone, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Maps: Vasiliy Meshko, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Base maps made with Natural Earth.