Officials believe the fire began in May 1962 when trash being burned in a pit ignited a lode of anthracite, a hard, slow-burning coal that weaves its way under and around the town. About 1,100 people lived in Centralia then, down from a peak of about 4,000. State officials say more than 500 homes and businesses have been vacated in the past 16 years. Government workers would mark the empty homes for demolition by painting front doors red. After a house was leveled, grass was planted on the empty lot.
Walkways sometimes are the only evidence that a house once stood there.
Researchers have found ground temperatures above 575 degrees. We brought a plastic bucket out there once, and we set it down in a place we didn't think was particularly hot, and we didn't come back to a bucket. Years ago, the phenomenon caused severe buckling and cracking on Highway 61, a main thoroughfare, and earlier this year a subsidence broke a water main. The fire also emits noxious gases, including the odorless and colorless carbon monoxide. In the 1980s, residents reported concentrations of carbon monoxide great enough to snuff out pilot lights, and people left their basement windows open all year to keep gas from building up.