The Coal Fires That Burn for Decades RoadyGoat
1962Coal is so packed with stored energy that once a buried seam catches fire, it can burn for decades -- even generations. Underground, a coal seam has its own slow supply of fuel and just enough air seeping through cracks to keep smoldering. Without water or oxygen starvation to stop it, the fire creeps along the seam underground, almost impossible to put out. Pennsylvania's most famous example is Centralia, a coal town not far from these hills. A fire there ignited in 1962 and is still burning beneath the ground today, decades later. It hollowed the town out: smoke seeped from the soil, the highway cracked, and most residents left. It's an eerie reminder of just how much fuel sits in a coal seam -- enough to feed a fire for a human lifetime and keep going.
