Proposal: Impact of the Centralia Fire
When it comes to structure fires, most people typically think of buildings like hotels and houses. Not many consider the possibility of one occurring underground. However, on May 27, 1962, a small mining town in Centralia, Pennsylvania became home to an underground fire. The fire was intentionally started so it could burn a trash dump but accidentally spread into the mine and has been burning since. As a result, there have been both major environmental and social impacts of this relatively unknown fire. This proposal will investigate these impacts and discuss the effects that this fire has had on the community and the surrounding ecosystem, with the goal of understanding how to prevent fires like this one from happening in the future.
Although the main focus of this project will be on the effects of this fire, the cause also needs to be discussed. Understanding how the fire started and what happened after will be useful background information as the impacts of the fire are explored. The fire started when the local fire department burned garbage pile too close to an abandoned coal mine. The fire quickly spread into the mine and has been burning ever since. All attempts to extinguish the fire have failed, and the chances of stopping it now are nearly impossible. The book Pennsylvania Disasters: True Story of Tragedy and Survival (2015), written by Karen Ivory, contains a chapter on Centralia that covers the fire's cause, government actions, and some of the associated health risks.
The social impact of the fire plays a key role in understanding Centralia. Toxic gas released from the burning coal in the mines made it too dangerous for many to continue to live there. But Centralia was a small, tight-knit community, so no one wanted to leave their homes, friends, or their history. Despite the dangers, many refused to leave, so the federal government stepped in to help with their relocation by offering incentives, but some still decided to stay. The Real Disaster Is Above Ground: A Mine Fire and Social Conflict (2009), written by Stephen Robert Couch and J. Stephen Kroll-Smith, provides many details on the conflicts within the community. This information will be useful in understanding how the people of Centralia were affected by the disaster. A community that was once based on mining turned into a ghost town, only visited by tourists and its few remaining residents.
In addition to the effects the Centralia fire has had on people, the surrounding environment has suffered just as much. One of the reasons the fire has been so hard to stop is because of the many cracks and fissures in the area, which supply the fire oxygen. However, harmful gases such as carbon monoxide are being released through the fissures as well, which can be deadly if too much is inhaled. There have also been many studies about the soil and its microbiome. Disturbance Ecology of Soil Microbial Communities in Response to the Centralia, PA Coal Fire (2019) is an experiment conducted by Jackson Winther Sorensen, where he studied how microbes in Centralia were affected by the ongoing fire. Not only have the organisms been affected, but so has the landscape. Cracked roads and cave-ins have made the land unstable.
The disaster that occurred in Centralia likely started with a stray flame from the burning trash dump. But even after sixty years, the mine is still burning and causing destruction despite being deep underground. With most structure fires, many people tend to focus on things like death toll and people’s actions immediately following the start of the fire. However, those are only short-term effects; there were no deaths in Centralia, nor panic when the fire started. Impacts of fires are just as important to study, and they give valuable information on how to prepare for a freak event like this in the future.
Annotated Bibliography
DeKok, David. Fire Underground: The Ongoing Tragedy of the Centralia Mine Fire. Guilford Connecticut, Globe Pequot Press, 2010.
This book covers many aspects of how the fire affected the town of Centralia and the surrounding community. The book includes recorded events within the town that look at the actions taken by its residents, and actions from different state and federal organizations. David DeKok tells the story of Centralia’s citizens from the start of the fire, all the way up to the eventual relocation of almost all of the town's citizens. Much of the information in this book comes directly from interviews and firsthand accounts of those involved. DeKok emphasizes the fact that this fire left a lasting impact on the citizens of Centralia, and its importance.
Ivory, Karen. “Underground Centralia Fires” in Pennsylvania Disasters: True Stories of Tragedy and Survival, Globe Pequot Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umw/detail.action?docID=2085835
This book is about many different disasters that occurred in Pennsylvania. It contains a chapter on the fire in Centralia which is what will be focused on. While brief, the information this chapter provides is useful in understanding key events and information about the fire. It includes quotes from different people and exact dates for important events. This chapter covers a brief history of the town and how the fire started. Additionally, the author explains the health risks associated with prolonged exposure to the gases released by the fire. There is also a strong argument about how the government's involvement caused more harm than good for the citizens.
Problems in the Control of the Centralia Mine Fire: A Report Bureau of Mines, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, 1980. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000030384996&seq=7
This report contains a lot of information about the fire and the different methods used in the attempts to extinguish it. It provides data on the fire which includes things like the ground temperature, the possible location of the flames, and information about the coal. This will be useful in understanding all the details about the various attempts to put out the fire, and how different factors affected it. The report also includes maps of Centralia and the cost of doing certain studies on the mine. The report was also published by the Bureau of Mines, who played a key role in providing data about the fire.
Quigley, Joan. The Day The Earth Caved In: An American Mining Tragedy. Random House Trade Paperback, 2009.
Joan Quigley’s book tells the story of Centralia in the format of a narrative. The writing makes the reader feel as if they are experiencing the events of the town, which gives a good perspective of how the citizens felt and the reasoning for actions. Quigley is a descendent of miners in Centralia, so it makes the story even more personable. The book covers how the citizens fought to stay in the town despite the dangers of the fire beneath them. It also looks at the incompetence of the government's help, and how it contributes to the citizens' actions. Additionally, the story includes direct quotes from Centralia's residents, and pictures of the town.
Sorensen, Jackson Winther. Disturbance Ecology of Soil Microbial Communities in Response to the Centralia, PA Coal Fire. Order No. 27668998, Michigan State University, 2019. https://umw.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/disturbance-ecology-soil-microbial-communities/docview/2351590414/se-2
This article studies how microbes in Centralia have been affected by the fire. Jackson Sorensen explains the importance of microbial communities because of their biogeochemical importance to the soil and ecosystem. A lot of data was taken from multiple different microbes, including things like temperature and microbe size. Sorensen goes into some details on the fire, specifically about how it affects the temperatures within the soil. Studies such as this one help us understand the impacts that underground fires can have on the soil and provide evidence of why it is important to not allow another fire like the one in Centralia to occur again.
Honor Pledge
I hereby declare upon my word of honor that I have neither given nor received unauthorized help on this work.