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4) caused the
Centralia Fire Company to once again douse it with hoses. A bulldozer stirred up the garbage so that firemen could douse concealed layers of the burning waste. A few days later, a hole as wide as 15 ft (4.6 m) and several feet high was found in the base of the north wall of the pit. Garbage had concealed the hole and prevented it from being filled with incombustible material. It is possible that this hole led to the mine fire, as it provided a pathway to the labyrinth of old mines under the borough. Evidence indicates that, despite these efforts to douse the fire, the landfill continued to burn. On July 2, Monsignor William J. Burke complained about foul odors from the smoldering trash and coal reaching St. Ignatius Church. Even then, the Centralia council still allowed the dumping of garbage into the pit.
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Therefore, Shober announced that he expected the state to finance the cost of digging out the fire, which was at that time around $ 30,000 (roughly equivalent to $ 302,000 in 2023). Another offer was made at the meeting, proposed by
Centralia strip mine operator Alonzo Sanchez, who told members of council that he would dig out the mine fire free of charge as long as he could claim any coal he recovered without paying royalties to the Lehigh Valley Coal Company. Part of Sanchez's plan was to do exploratory drilling to estimate the scope of the mine fire, which was most likely why Sanchez's offer was rejected at the meeting. The drilling would have delayed the project, not to mention the legal problems with mining rights.
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hundreds of millions of dollars of some of the best anthracite coal in the world". In July 2012, the last handful of residents in
Centralia lost their appeal of a court decision upholding eminent domain proceedings and were again ordered to leave. State and local officials reached an agreement with the seven remaining residents on October 29, 2013, allowing them to live out their lives there, after which the rights of their properties would be taken through eminent domain.
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rock-grinding machine froze during a windy blizzard. Both problems inhibited the timely mixture and administration of the crushed-rock slurry. The DMMI also worried that the 10,000 cu yd (7,600 m) of flushing material would not be enough to fill the mines, thus preventing the bore holes from filling completely. Partially filled boreholes would provide an escape route for the fire, rendering the project ineffective.
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the
Department of Mines and Mineral Industries (DMMI) became concerned about the pit when he noticed holes in the walls and floor, as such mines often cut through older mines underneath. Segaritus informed Joseph Tighe, a Centralia councilman, that the pit would require filling with an incombustible material.
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Another hypothesis arose from a letter sent to the Lehigh Valley Coal
Company by the Centralia Council in the days after the mine fire was noticed. The letter describes "a fire of unknown origin on or about June 25, 1962, during a period of unusually hot weather". This may refer to the hypothesis of
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that the fire had in fact started the previous day, when a trash hauler dumped hot ash or coal discarded from coal burners into the open trash pit. She noted that borough council minutes from June 4, 1962, referred to two fires at the dump, and that five firefighters had submitted bills for "fighting
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beginning in late 1976. Between 1976 and 1986, he wrote over 500 articles about the mine fire. In 1979, locals became aware of the scale of the problem when a gas-station owner, then-mayor John
Coddington, inserted a dipstick into one of his underground tanks to check the fuel level. When he withdrew
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Pressed at an August 12 meeting of the United Mine Works of
America in Centralia, Secretary of Mines Lewis Evans sent a letter to the group on August 15 that claimed he had authorized a project to deal with the mine fire, and that bids for the project would be opened on August 17. Two days later, the
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A fire was ignited to clean the dump on May 27, 1962, and water was used to douse the visible flames that night. However, flames were seen once more on May 29. Using hoses hooked up from Locust Avenue, another attempt was made to douse the fire that night. Another flare-up in the following week (June
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The town council arranged for cleanup of the strip mine dump, but council minutes do not describe the proposed procedure. DeKok surmises that the process—setting it on fire—was not specified because state law prohibited dump fires. Nonetheless, the
Centralia council set a date and hired five members
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began the formal eviction of
Centralia residents. By early 2010, only five occupied homes remained, with the residents determined to stay. In lawsuits, the remaining residents alleged that they were victims of "massive fraud", "motivated primarily by interests in what is conservatively estimated at
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The
Department of Mines and Mineral Industries (DMMI), who originally believed Bridy would need only to excavate 24,000 cu yd (18,000 m) of earth, informed them that they were forbidden from doing any exploratory drilling in order to find the perimeter of the fire or how deep it was,
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Pennsylvania had passed a precautionary law in 1956 to regulate landfill use in strip mines, as landfills were known to cause destructive mine fires. The law required a permit and regular inspection for a municipality to use such a pit. George Segaritus, a regional landfill inspector who worked for
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Another hypothesis is that the fire was burning long before the alleged trash dump fire. According to local legend, the Bast Colliery coal fire of 1932, set alight by an explosion, was never fully extinguished. In 1962, it reached the landfill area. Those who adhere to the Bast Theory believe that
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Bridy, following the engineering team plan, began by digging on the northern perimeter of the dump pit rim and excavated about 200 ft (61 m) outward to expand the perimeter. However, the project was ultimately ineffective due to multiple factors. Intentional breaching of the subterranean
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A three-option proposal was drawn up soon after that, although the project would be delayed until after the new fiscal year beginning July 1, 1963. The first option, costing $ 277,490, consisted of entrenching the fire and back-filling the trench with incombustible material. The second, costing $
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The Centralia Council sent a letter to the Lehigh Valley Coal Company (LVCC) as formal notice of the fire. It is speculated that the town council had decided that hiding the true origin of the fire would serve better than alerting the LVCC of the truth, which would most likely end in receiving no
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Centralia councilman Joseph Tighe proposed a different hypothesis: that Centralia's coal fire was actually started by an adjacent coal-seam fire that had been burning west of Centralia's. His belief is that the adjacent fire was at one time partially excavated, but nonetheless, it set alight the
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Preceding an August 6 meeting at the fire site, which would include officials from the LVCC and the Susquehanna Coal Company, Deputy Secretary of Mines James Shober Sr. expected that the representatives would inform him that they could not afford mounting a project that would stop the mine fire.
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Cemetery. There were eight illegal dumps spread about Centralia, and the council's intention in creating the landfill was to stop the illegal dumping, as new state regulations had forced the town to close an earlier dump west of St. Ignatius Cemetery. Trustees at the cemetery were opposed to the
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These problems quickly depleted funds. In response, Secretary Evans approved an additional $ 14,000 (roughly equivalent to $ 141,000 in 2023) to fund this project. Funding for the project ran out on March 15, 1963, with a total cost of $ 42,420 (roughly equivalent to $ 427,000 in 2023).
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pattern along the edge of the landfill. However, this project was also ineffective due to multiple factors. Centralia experienced an unusually heavy period of snowfall and unseasonably low temperatures during the project. Winter weather caused the water supply lines to freeze. Furthermore, the
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On October 29, just prior to the termination of the Bridy project, a new project was proposed that involved flushing the mine fire. Crushed rock would be mixed with water and pumped into Centralia's mines ahead of the expected fire expansion. The project was estimated to cost $ 40,000 (roughly
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operator in Bridy's project, said that the project was ineffective because the inrush of air helped the fire to move ahead of the excavation point by the time the section was drilled and blasted. Bridy was also using a 2.5 cu yd (1.9 m) shovel, which was considered small for the
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weekend in early September. Finally, the fire was traveling in a northward direction, which caused the fire to move deeper into the coal seam. This, combined with the work restrictions and inadequate equipment, greatly increased the excavation cost. Bridy had excavated 58,580 cu yd
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4 ft (1.2 m) wide by 150 ft (46 m) deep that suddenly opened beneath his feet in a backyard. He clung to a tree root until his cousin, 14-year-old Eric Wolfgang, saved his life by pulling him out of the hole. The plume of hot steam billowing from the hole was measured as
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151,714, offered a smaller trench in an incomplete circle, followed by the completion of the circle with a flush barrier. The third plan was a "total and concerted flushing project" larger than the second project's flushing and costing $ 82,300. The state abandoned this project in 1963.
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A number of competing hypotheses have arisen about the source of the Centralia mine fire. Some of them claim that the mine fire started before May 27, 1962. David DeKok says that the borough's deliberate burning of trash on May 27 to clean up the landfill in the former
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Furthermore, the state only permitted Bridy's team to work weekday shifts which were eight hours long and only occurred during the day time, commonly referred to as "first shift" in the mining industry. At one point, work was at a standstill for five days during the
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the fire at the landfill area". The borough, by law, was responsible for installing a fire-resistant clay barrier between each layer of trash in the landfill, but fell behind schedule, leaving the barrier incomplete. This allowed the hot coals to penetrate the
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and that they were to strictly follow plans drawn up by the engineers who did not believe that the fire was very big or active. Instead, the size and location of the fire was estimated based on the amount of steam issuing from the landfill rock.
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of coal underneath the pit, lighting the subsequent subterranean fire. In addition to the council minutes, Quigley cites "interviews with volunteer firemen, the former fire chief, borough officials, and several eyewitnesses" as her sources.
635:, that allocated more than $ 42 million for relocation efforts (equivalent to $ 123 million in 2023) Most of the residents accepted buyout offers. A few families opted to stay despite urgings from Pennsylvania officials.
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At the time, state mine inspectors were in the Centralia-area mines almost daily to check for lethal levels of carbon monoxide. Lethal levels were found on August 9, and all Centralia-area mines were closed the next day.
395:, came at the invitation of a council member to inspect the situation in Centralia. Kashner evaluated the events and called Gordon Smith, an engineer of the Department of Mines and Mineral Industries (DMMI) office in
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Steam rising through a fissure in the ground in the closed-off area of former Pennsylvania Route 61 in 2010. The melted snow, which covered the ground around it, shows areas where heat is escaping from the ground
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with his brother in the vicinity of the landfill between 1960 and 1962. He says that if the Bast Colliery fire had never been put out, he and his brother would have been in it and been killed by the gases.
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As of April 2020, efforts to cover up Graffiti Highway by the private owner of the road were begun. The abandoned highway was covered with dirt in April 2020, generally blocking public access to the road.
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containing a lethal level of carbon monoxide. Todd began suffering nightmares of the incident later in life, for which he turned to prescribed medication. He died of an overdose on February 4, 2022.
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equivalent to $ 403,000 in 2023). Bids were opened on November 1, and the project was awarded to K&H Excavating with a low bid of $ 28,400 (roughly equivalent to $ 286,000 in 2023).
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This was a world where no human could live, hotter than the planet Mercury, its atmosphere as poisonous as Saturn's. At the heart of the fire, temperatures easily exceeded 1,000 degrees
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In this Feb. 14, 1981, file photo, Todd Domboski, 12, of Centralia, Pa., looks over a barricade at the hole he fell through just hours before this photo was taken in Centralia, Pa.
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On April 11, steam issuing from additional openings in the ground indicated that the fire had spread eastward as far as 700 ft (210 m), and that the project had failed.
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contract was awarded to Bridy, Inc., a company near Mount Carmel, for an estimated $ 20,000 (roughly equivalent to $ 201,000 in 2023). Work on the project began August 22.
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The Centralia area has now grown to be a tourist attraction. Visitors come to see the smoke and/or steam on Centralia's empty streets and the abandoned portion of
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on all properties in the borough, condemning all the buildings within. A subsequent legal effort by residents to have the decision reversed failed. In 2002, the
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it, it seemed hot. He lowered a thermometer into the tank on a string and was shocked to discover that the temperature of the gasoline in the tank was 172
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in the north wall of the landfill pit. Tests concluded that the gases seeping from the large hole in the pit wall and from cracks in the north wall contained
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ignited a coal seam via an unsealed opening in the trash pit, which allowed the fire to enter the labyrinth of abandoned coal mines beneath Centralia.
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spontaneous combustion being the reason for the start of the landfill fire, a hypothesis accepted for many years by state and federal officials.
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landfill's proximity to it but recognized the illegal dumping elsewhere was a serious problem and envisioned that the new pit would resolve it.
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the dump fire is a separate fire unrelated to the Centralia mine fire. One man who disagrees is Frank Jurgill Sr., who claims he operated a
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levels. Statewide attention to the fire began to increase, culminating in 1981 when a 12-year-old resident named Todd Domboski fell into a
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help from them. In the letter, the borough described the starting of a fire "of unknown origin during a period of unusually hot weather".
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from the mine fires has interacted with heavy rainfalls in the area, which rush into the abandoned mines to form Pennsylvania's only
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1769:"'Silent Hill Production Diary: On Adapting Silent Hill Lore, The Red Pyramid, and Using "Centralia" as a Temp Film Title"
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Problems in the control of anthracite mine fires : a case study of the Centralia mine fire (August 1980)
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Beginning in 1980, adverse health effects were reported by several people due to byproducts of the fire —
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In 1984, Wilkes-Barre Representative Frank Harrison proposed legislation, which was approved by
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that had been cleared by Edward Whitney in 1935, and came very close to the northeast corner of
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Clarence "Mooch" Kashner, the president of the Independent Miners, Breakermen, and Truckers
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A small part of the Centralia mine fire after being exposed during excavation in 1969
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Drilling was conducted through holes spaced 20 ft (6.1 m) apart in a
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1530:"Visiting Centralia PA – Frequently Asked Questions about visiting Centralia"
1446:"Federal appeals court upholds ruling, meaning Centralia residents must move"
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1714:"'America Declassified' Hiding in Plain Sight/City on Fire/Rock Star (2013)"
399:. Smith told the town that he could dig out the smoldering material using a
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Unseen Danger; A Tragedy of People, Government, and the Centralia Mine Fire
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Unseen Danger: A Tragedy of People, Government, and the Centralia Mine Fire
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1589:"Pennsylvania's colorful 'Graffiti Highway' is being shut down for good"
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On May 7, 1962, the Centralia Council met to discuss the approaching
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1505:"Minding a legacy of faith: In an empty town, a shrine still shines"
1350:"The state no longer owns Centralia's 'Graffiti Highway.' Who does?"
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draws on these events, although the film is based in West Virginia.
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1684:"Getting to the Bottom of This Gushing Geyser in Schuylkill County"
1653:"Work Begins on Centralia's Graffiti Highway; State Police Enforce"
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1472:"Agreement Reached With Remaing [sic] Centralia Residents"
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for $ 175. A call was placed to Art Joyce, a mine inspector from
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Fire Underground: The Ongoing Tragedy of the Centralia Mine Fire
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Fire Underground: The Ongoing Tragedy of the Centralia Mine Fire
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1156:"THE BOY WHO FELL INTO THE HOLE: TODD DOMBOSKI DEAD IN ALTOONA"
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of the volunteer firefighter company to clean up the landfill.
1031:, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, p. 17,
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You can help by providing page numbers for existing citations.
694:. The geyser has been kept open as a means of flood control.
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were constructed to support the walls of the remaining homes.
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902:"Centralia, Pa.: How an underground coal fire erased a town"
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The Centralia mine fire also extended beneath the town of
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for use on the swirling wisps of steam now emanating from
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and how the town would go about cleaning up the Centralia
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to rush in, greatly worsening the fire. Steve Kisela, a
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The Day the Earth Caved In: An American Mining Tragedy
1129:. Associated Press. February 14, 1981. Archived from
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A DEP underground reading of 187 °F (86 °C)
1412:"Pa. coal town above mine fire claims massive fraud"
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that has been burning in the labyrinth of abandoned
1377:"Few Remain as 1962 Pa. Coal Town Fire Still Burns"
90:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
1089:"How an Underground Fire Destroyed an Entire Town"
932:"Centralia Loses Another Resident, Home Abandoned"
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779:
697:The fire and its effects were featured in 2013 on
1240:"A modern day Ghost Town, Centralia Pennsylvania"
676:, popularly referred to as the Graffiti Highway.
517:David DeKok began reporting on the mine fire for
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1062:"What Hours Are First Shift & Second Shift?"
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789:. U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Mines.
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1860:Environmental disasters in the United States
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611:The location at which the former roadbed of
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623:As the joining row houses were demolished,
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419:concentrations typical of coal-mine fires.
53:Learn how and when to remove these messages
16:Long-burning coal-seam fire in Pennsylvania
1559:"Graffiti Highway, Centralia Pennsylvania"
684:Increased air pressure induced by the heat
1620:"Graffiti Highway to be closed by owners"
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222:Learn how and when to remove this message
204:Learn how and when to remove this message
150:Learn how and when to remove this message
1855:History of Columbia County, Pennsylvania
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1218:. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 22.
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373:(University of Pennsylvania Press, 1986)
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1503:Holmes, Kristin E. (October 21, 2008).
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458:mine chambers allowed large amounts of
335:A plume of steam wafts from the ground.
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1375:Rubinkam, Michael (February 5, 2010).
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995:. Globe Pequot Press. pp. 19–26.
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572:Joan Quigley argues in her 2007 book
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1068:from the original on 29 January 2018
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900:O'Carroll, Eoin (February 5, 2010).
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88:adding citations to reliable sources
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1410:Rubinkam, Michael (March 9, 2010).
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13:
1663:from the original on April 6, 2020
1632:from the original on April 6, 2020
1618:Strawser, Justin (April 6, 2020).
1348:Beauge, John (February 15, 2018).
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1246:from the original on 8 August 2013
1101:from the original on 7 August 2014
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1682:Albert, Jessica (June 17, 2018).
953:
908:. The Christian Science Monitor.
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34:This article has multiple issues.
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1587:David Williams (April 8, 2020).
1154:Speaker, The Coal (2022-02-11).
615:terminates due to the mine fire.
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64:
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1767:Gans, Christophe (2006-03-15).
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1724:from the original on 2017-03-25
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1569:from the original on 2017-02-26
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1540:from the original on 2017-05-09
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1511:from the original on 2022-05-27
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1485:from the original on 2019-06-10
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1426:from the original on 2021-12-22
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1331:from the original on 2011-06-29
1319:Currie, Tyler (April 2, 2003),
1301:from the original on 2019-11-17
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1194:from the original on 2014-02-27
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1009:from the original on 2022-05-27
942:from the original on 2019-07-17
912:from the original on 2013-07-03
880:from the original on 2008-12-01
804:from the original on 2021-06-26
715:Mini Stories: Volume 18 episode
638:In 1992, Pennsylvania governor
75:needs additional citations for
42:or discuss these issues on the
1126:Evansville Courier & Press
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1:
1875:Columbia County, Pennsylvania
1444:Wheary, Rob (June 27, 2012).
761:
422:
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1451:Pottsville Republican Herald
1087:Morton, Ella (4 June 2014).
930:PA, Centralia (2017-01-02).
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236:1947 Centralia mine disaster
7:
1212:Dekok, David (2009-10-01).
868:Krajick, Kevin (May 2005),
780:Chaiken, Robert F. (1983).
729:
10:
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1651:Reed, J. (April 6, 2020).
1183:The Day the Earth Caved In
845:, New York: Random House,
756:New Straitsville mine fire
574:The Day the Earth Caved In
513:Later remediation projects
440:Early remediation attempts
233:
1880:Disasters in Pennsylvania
1743:"Mini Stories: Volume 18"
1060:Sherman, Frasser (2018).
480:Second excavation project
1870:Persistent natural fires
1266:"Washington News Briefs"
445:First excavation project
234:Not to be confused with
1355:Harrisburg Patriot-News
409:gas detection equipment
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276:Centralia, Pennsylvania
175:This article cites its
1242:. Sliprock Media LLC.
1179:Quigley, Joan (2007).
837:Quigley, Joan (2007),
746:Jharia coal field fire
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1865:Fires in Pennsylvania
1831:40.80111°N 76.33750°W
1027:DeKok, David (1986),
989:DeKok, David (2010).
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613:Pennsylvania Route 61
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327:The Buck Vein Outcrop
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99:"Centralia mine fire"
1809:at Wikimedia Commons
1481:. October 30, 2013.
1391:on November 29, 2012
1381:ABC News (Australia)
874:Smithsonian Magazine
751:Laurel Run mine fire
736:Carbondale mine fire
699:America Declassified
650:revoked Centralia's
595:landfill on May 27.
84:improve this article
1836:40.80111; -76.33750
1827: /
1807:Centralia mine fire
1291:"Cities | Radiolab"
1268:. November 16, 1983
1121:"Evansville Photos"
648:U.S. Postal Service
260:Centralia mine fire
1181:"Chapter Notes to
870:"Fire in the hole"
741:Darvaza gas crater
657:In 2009, Governor
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379:Plan and execution
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1805:Media related to
1416:San Diego Tribune
1225:978-0-7627-5824-1
1038:978-0-595-09270-3
1002:978-0-7627-5427-4
906:Bright Green blog
852:978-1-4000-6180-8
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1781:. Retrieved
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1749:. 2024-01-09
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824:Dekok 20–21.
806:. Retrieved
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82:Please help
77:verification
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36:Please help
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1834: /
1698:December 7,
1395:February 6,
723:Silent Hill
674:PA Route 61
667:Byrnesville
532:(77.8
308:Odd Fellows
1849:Categories
1822:76°20′15″W
1819:40°48′04″N
1783:2023-07-07
1753:2024-01-15
1728:2017-03-24
1657:Skook News
1573:2017-03-24
1544:2017-03-24
1515:2014-02-07
1489:2021-12-22
1457:2024-08-19
1430:2021-12-22
1361:2024-08-19
1335:2009-12-19
1305:2019-12-01
1198:2012-03-13
1165:2024-02-11
1137:2013-09-19
1072:26 January
1050:Dekok, 25.
1013:2020-11-25
946:2019-08-04
916:2013-08-05
884:2009-07-27
808:2019-12-01
762:References
659:Ed Rendell
625:buttresses
567:strip mine
547:— and low
423:Escalation
397:Pottsville
362:Fahrenheit
304:strip mine
290:Background
284:demolished
268:coal mines
110:newspapers
39:improve it
1250:15 August
1105:August 2,
795:609303157
720:The film
654:, 17927.
640:Bob Casey
603:Aftermath
473:Labor Day
467:project.
464:bulldozer
45:talk page
1722:Archived
1718:IMDb.com
1692:Archived
1667:April 6,
1661:Archived
1636:April 6,
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1007:Archived
940:Archived
910:Archived
878:archived
799:Archived
730:See also
652:ZIP code
642:invoked
633:Congress
553:sinkhole
525:Shamokin
367:—
300:landfill
194:May 2022
140:May 2022
1688:WNEP-TV
1593:CNN.com
1477:WNEP-TV
1272:July 7,
701:on the
692:Ashland
272:borough
177:sources
124:scholar
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688:geyser
549:oxygen
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1094:Slate
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393:union
262:is a
131:JSTOR
117:books
1700:2021
1669:2020
1638:2020
1605:2020
1479:News
1397:2010
1274:2022
1252:2014
1220:ISBN
1107:2014
1074:2018
1033:ISBN
997:ISBN
847:ISBN
791:OCLC
579:vein
543:and
319:Fire
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
