The Forest That Burns Underground

Beneath the quiet streets of Centralia, Pennsylvania, the earth is on fire.
Not in a poetic sense — but literally.
For over 60 years, a coal mine fire has been burning beneath the town, turning it into one of the most haunting ghost towns in America.

The Fire That Wouldn’t Die

In 1962, residents of Centralia decided to clean up the local landfill, which sat on top of an old strip mine.
The method? Setting it on fire to burn away the trash.

It seemed harmless — until the flames ignited a vein of anthracite coal running beneath the town.
No one realized it at first. But over the next months, then years, smoke began to seep from cracks in the ground. The smell of sulfur filled the air.

A Town Slowly Swallowed

At first, the fire was treated as an oddity. But by the 1980s, it was clear that Centralia was sitting on a ticking time bomb.
The underground inferno had spread to an estimated 8 miles of tunnels, burning at temperatures above 1,000°F (538°C).
Houses began to sink into the earth as the ground collapsed. In 1981, a 12-year-old boy nearly died when the earth opened into a steaming sinkhole right under his feet.

By the mid-1980s, the U.S. government declared the town unsafe. Most residents were relocated. Centralia’s zip code was revoked, its buildings demolished. Today, fewer than a handful of people remain.

Why Can’t They Put It Out?

Putting out a fire underground is almost impossible. The coal seam provides endless fuel, and the fire creeps slowly but steadily in all directions.
Experts estimate the Centralia fire could burn for another 250 years.

The Bigger Picture

Centralia is not unique. Underground coal fires burn in China, India, Indonesia, and South Africa, releasing millions of tons of carbon dioxide and toxic gases into the atmosphere every year.
Some of these fires started decades — even centuries — ago.

This is more than a strange news story — it’s a sign of our fragile relationship with the planet’s resources.
We dug into the earth for fuel, and in some cases, we lit fires we can’t put out.