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Mine Fire History
Visiting Centralia
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Satellite, Aerial Photos
360 Virtual Tours
Downtown Panoramic
Centralia Multimedia
Scientific Study
Memories of Centralia


Panoramic Virtual Tours:

Mine Fire Hot Spot
Downtown Centralia Mainstreet Centralia Damaged Hillside

 
 
   
Knoebels Amusement Park (only 15 miles from Centralia!) 
Ghost Towns
Area 51 - Groom Lake
Abandoned PA Turnpike
Defunct Amusement Parks
Abandoned Places

  

Photo Updates:


Centralia in HDR

July 2006 360? Virtual Tour of Downtown Centralia PA

Centralia's Neighbor:
Byrnesville, Pa

Zeisloft's Mobil
Gas Station

July 5th 2008
Centralia PA

Centralia PA 2008
January Photos and 
commentary by
Donald Davis


2006 Photos


2005 Photos
of Centralia


 

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2004 Photos
of Centralia


2003 photos

of Centralia

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2002 photos

of Centralia


360 Degree Virtual Tours of Centralia PA
 

Fire In The Hole
by Kristie Betts
A fictional story based on Centralia
 

The Little
Town That Was

by Donald Hollinger

 

RESIDENTS TO SAVE THE BOROUGH OF CENTRALIA - FACT SHEET #6 - MARCH 1984 - This "Fact Sheet" was transcribed from a photocopied, original March 1984 newsletter from a Centralia organization called "Residents To Save The Borough Of Centralia".  Read the News Letter here


130th Anniversary
of the 1877 Shamokin Uprising and the Great Railroad Strike .. Read More

 

Centralia Today
A Photo Documentary
of Centralia today.

 

Mine Emergency Response Program
Details from the
Saskatchewan
Mine Rescue Manual
 

















 

Books About

Centralia Pennsylvania

Unseen Danger: A Tragedy of People, Government, and the Centralia Mine Fire  
by David DeKok

Award-winning journalist David DeKok tells, for the first time, how the Centralia mine fire really started in 1962. He shows how local, state and federal government officials failed to take effective action, allowing the fire to move underneath the small town of Centralia, Pennsylvania. By early 1981, the fire was sending deadly gases into homes, forcing the federal government to install gas alarms. A 12-year-old boy dropped into a steaming hole in the ground wrenched open by the fire's heat on Valentine's Day as the region's congressman toured nearby. DeKok tells how the people of Centralia banded together to demand help from the government, finally winning money to relocate much of the town. 

To Read a segment from the book, follow this link.

For more information and how to find this book, Click Here

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The Real Disaster Is Above Ground: A Mine Fire and Social Conflict
by J. Stephen Kroll-Smith, Stepehn Couch

Editorial Reviews From Book News, Inc.
Since the 1960s, Centralia, a small town in the anthracite region of Pennsylvania, has been consumed by a fire that has inexorably spread in the abandoned mines beneath it. The disaster above the ground refers to the failures of technology and of disaster management policy. The final solution, now being put into effect, is to abandon the town and relocate its people. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
For more information and how to find this book, Click Here

Slow Burn: A Photodocument of Centralia, Pennsylvania
by Renee Jacobs

Editorial Reviews From Publishers Weekly
First discovered in 1962, an apparently inextinguishable mine fire beneath Centralia, Pa., has made the once-charming area resemble a ghost town. Jacobs tells the story of the fire and recounts, in poignant interviews and photographs, the residents' tough choice between staying and resettling. Some people remain, clinging to memories of better times and hoping that the fire will move or be put out, while others have accepted government money and relocated elsewhere. From Todd Domboski's account of falling into a dangerous hole in his grandmother's backyard to Helen Womer's decision to stay in Centralia no matter what happens, this book is filled with stories of courage in the face of an invisible enemy.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
For more information and how to find this book, Click Here

 

Centralia (Images of America: Pennsylvania)
by Deryl B. Johnson 

Centralia is the saga of a Pennsylvania community consumed by an underground mine fire. The town, founded in 1866, has often been embroiled in tragedy and controversy. Beginning with the infamous Molly Maguires, Centralia was confronted with the murder of its founder and an assault upon its Catholic priest, who cursed the town, saying, “One day this town will be erased from the face of the earth.” Almost one hundred years later, a vein of coal that ran underneath the town caught fire and has burned since 1962. In the 1990s, the state of Pennsylvania declared eminent domain and forced most of the town’s sixteen hundred residents to leave. Ten people remain in Centralia today. This book chronicles many of the images and stories from this fascinating and colorful Pennsylvania community. 

About the Author
Deryl B. Johnson is a playwright, performer, and professor in the Department of Speech Communication & Theatre at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. He has been researching and documenting the history of Centralia for years.
For more information and how to find this book, Click Here


Lauren Wolk - Those Who Favor the Fire
Published in 1998 by Random House. It is the story of a fictitious town called "Belle Haven." Anyone familiar with the story of Centralia will recognize the chronology and perhaps even some of the characters.

In picturesque, present-day Pennsylvania, the former coal-mining town of Belle Haven harbors a hidden danger: lethal fires, ignited by a burning dump, simmer below ground. Despite this hazard, residents refuse to abandon their homes, relying instead on pet canaries to detect the noxious fumes that signal impending eruptions. Enter an unpopular government agent named Mendelson, who offers to buy them out.....

For more information and how to find this book, Click Here

 

Coal Region Related Books

When the Mines Closed: Stories of Struggles in Hard Times
by Thomas Dublin, George Harvan (Photographer)

The anthracite region of northeastern Pennsylvania, five hundred square miles of rugged hills stretching between Tower City and Carbondale, harbored coal deposits that once heated virtually all the homes and businesses in Eastern cities. At its peak during World War I, the coal industry here employed 170,000 miners, and supported almost 1,000,000 people. Today, with coal workers numbering 1,500, only 5,000 people depend on the industry for their livelihood. Between these two points in time lies a story of industrial decline, of working people facing incremental and cataclysmic changes in their world. When the Mines Closed tells this story in the words of men and women who experienced these dramatic changes and in more than eighty photographs of these individuals, their families, and the larger community. 

For more information and how to find this book, Click Here

The Black Land: Remnants of the Once & Great Anthracite Coal Industry
by Ed Dougert

48 black & white art prints reproduced in an 11x9 coffee-table book format, with captions. Dougert's interpretation of the legacy of hard coal mining has taken him throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania as he visited many obscure locations. This history is fast disappearing or becoming inaccessible. For example, the imposing Locust Summit Breaker included in this collection no longer exists--it was torn down in 2002.

For more information and how to find this book, Click Here

   

  
  
Other Links of Interesting
      
Ghost Towns
Visit Ghost Towns across America
Abandoned PA Turnpike
Did you know Pennsylvania
has an abandoned Turnpike?
Defunct Amusement Parks
Amusement Parks of Yesterday
Abandoned Places
Abandoned Locations from all over
Area 51 - Groom Lake
The Top-secret military base.
Underground flames erase a community
  
 
 

 

 
  Mine Fire History Mine Fire History Historical Photos
  Pictures From Today Mine Fire Chronology Visiting Centralia
  Centralia Then & Now 360? Virtual Tours Scientific Study
  Satellite, Aerial Photos Downtown Panoramic Centralia Books

  

Other Interesting Things

 

 


 

So you want to Visit Centralia PA?  What you should know before you go to Centralia PA.

 

The Real Disaster Is Above Ground: A Mine Fire and Social Conflict

 


















 

What's near Centralia?

Plan your visit around one of Pennsylvania's best kept secrets located only 15 miles up the road from Centralia...


Knoebels
Amusement Park

Click Below for
 more details...

Knoebels
Amusement Park

 


Silent Hill & Centralia
Centralia PA inspires screenwriter Roger Avary during the making of the movie Silent Hill.
Read More Here...

 

Remembering ...
Byrnesville PA
By Mike Reilley

 
  Books about Centralia
  Maps of Centralia
  Around Town Today
  Local Attractions
 
  Personal Notes
  Additional Reading
  Haunted Centralia?
 
  Gerry McWilliams and
  the album "Centralia"
  
  Silent Hill Inspiration
  Other Mine Fires
  Search Centralia
  Centralia Sites/Books
  
Panoramic Virtual Tours:
Mine Fire Hot Spot
Downtown Centralia Mainstreet Centralia Damaged Hillside
  
 
  Centralia Infrared


Centralia PA in B&W Infrared
Infrared Photography
by Donald Davis

Video Tour
in Infrared of
Centralia PA
by Donald Davis

  

The Little Town That Was
by Donald Hollinger
 
  
Made in U.S.A. - 1987 movie that was filmed on location in Centralia PA See the opening Scene that started in Centralia during the peek of the mine fire disaster

 
 

 

Is Centralia Haunted?
Explore the possibility

 
The Real Disaster Is Above Ground: A Mine Fire and Social Conflict
 
  

Is there Hope
for Centralia?

Maybe...

Through the use of Nitrogen-Enhanced foam the Pinnacle mine fire was extinguished by Cummins Industries, Inc.  Cummins proposes to tackle the Centralia Mine fire and bring an end to the 
40 plus year fire.

Read this White Paper which evaluates the effectiveness of remotely applied nitrogen-enhanced foam to aid in efforts to isolate and suppress a mine fire.