Pennsylvania’s Most Infamous Trash Fire: How a Regular Spring Cleanup Turned Into a 60-Year Disaster

The Underground Inferno That Won’t Stop Burning

Pennsylvania’s got an underground fire that’s been burning since JFK was president.

The Centralia mine fire keeps gettin bigger and hotter, spreading through old coal tunnels like a slow-motion disaster movie.

Here’s a look at one of America’s worst environmental disasters.

Centralia Used to Be an Anthracite Mining Town

Pennsylvania sits on America’s richest deposit of anthracite coal, aka the “black diamond” because of how premium it is.

Anthracite burns so hot it can reach temperatures up to 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit, which is hotter than some volcanoes.

The discovery of anthracite in Pennsylvania in the 1790s changed American history. By the 1800s, this super-efficient fuel powered the Industrial Revolution.

Immigrant workers from Germany, Ireland, Poland, and Italy flocked to Pennsylvania’s coal region. They built communities around the mines, and Centralia was one such town.

Established in 1866

Alexander Rea established Centralia in the 1860s as a company town for the Locust Mountain Coal and Iron Company.

Five major mines operated in the area: Locust Run Mine, Coal Ridge Mine, Hazeldell Colliery Mine, Centralia Mine, and Continental Mine.

The town reached its peak with 1,200 residents who worked in these operations.

The Fire Started from Burning Trash

Centralia had a garbage problem in 1962.

The town dump sat in an old strip mine pit at the edge of town. The rats and smell started to overwhelm the residents in and around.

The Centralia Borough Council then decided to clean things up before Memorial Day.

On May 27, 1962, the Centralia Borough Council gave the go-ahead to the fire department to conduct a trash burn. It was common practice at the time.

But here’s what they didn’t know.

This dump sat right on top of an abandoned coal mine entrance. The ground was full of holes and cracks that led straight down to rich seams of anthracite coal.

Within days, people noticed something wasn’t right. Smoke kept coming up from the ground even after the trash fire should have died out.

The fire department tried flooding the area with water and clay slurry, but all attempts to control the blaze failed.

The Centralia Fire’s Still Cooking Beneath the Surface

The blaze has eaten through 400 acres of coal seams since 1962.

Recent studies show the fire’s burning as deep as 300 feet underground, which is like a 30-story building going straight down.

The fire also keeps creeping along at a steady pace of about 75 feet per year.

A new fire popped up three miles east of Centralia, the “Girardville North II” fire, and scientists are trying to figure out if it’s connected to the original blaze.

Ground Temperatures Can Hit 1,000 Degrees

Steam and smoke still seep through cracks in the earth, especially after it rains. The heat’s so intense it can melt snow in winter and kill trees from their roots up.

Also led to the nearby town Byrnesville being abandoned

Byrnesville sat between Centralia and Ashland, a cozy village where Irish Catholic families first settled in 1856.

The town split into two parts – Upper and Lower Byrnesville – and life was good until the Centralia fire came knocking.

By the 1980s, toxic gases seeped through the ground and the earth started caving in. But Congress stepped in with $42 million to help folks move out.

The last house came down in 1996.

The Centralia Fire Created Pennsylvania’s Only Geyser

The fire’s heat has interacted with rainwater to create Pennsylvania’s only geyser, the Big Mine Run Geyser, near Ashland.

It’s not your typical Yellowstone geyser.

The Big Mine Run Geyser shoots up from an old mine shaft, pushing water up to 15 feet high when conditions are right.

It’s all thanks to rainwater filling up those abandoned mine tunnels and getting forced out through an old air shaft.

You’ll smell that sulfur right away once you get near this man-made geyser.

Graffiti Highway Was Centralia’s Unofficial Landmark

For decades, part of Centralia’s Route 61 became known as the “Graffiti Highway.”

This abandoned stretch of road, damaged by the fire’s heat and subsidence, was closed to traffic in the 1990s.

Over time, it became a popular destination for urban explorers, artists, and tourists, who covered its cracked surface with colorful graffiti.

In April 2020, the property owners dumped 8,000 tons of dirt right on top of it. Too many people were showing up during COVID-19, and safety became a big worry.

Centralia Was Eventually Removed from the US Postal System

In 2003, the U.S. Postal Service revoked Centralia’s ZIP code.

They stopped mail delivery to the town. The decision came after decades of decline owing to the underground coal fire that had forced residents to leave town.

With fewer than 10 people remaining, the area no longer qualified as a regular community for postal services.

Neighboring Towns like Ashland Are Worried About the Fire Spreading

The nearby town of Ashland faces ongoing concerns about the fire’s spread.

However, experts believe natural barriers and groundwater will stop the fire before it reaches other communities.

Scientists monitor the fire’s movement constantly to protect surrounding areas, with the state of Pennsylvania checking the site every month.

The Centralia Fire Could Burn for at Least 250 More Years

As of 2025, experts project that the Centralia mine fire will continue to burn for at least another 250 years.

About 25 million tons of coal remain underground to fuel the blaze. The area will likely remain uninhabitable for centuries.