Centralia

Many, many pages have been written about this little town in eastern Pennsylvania, but after being there on two different occasions this past month, I decided to do my own and with a different twist. By now everyone or just about everyone knows how the mine fire started in 1962, but there a little bit different tale to this story. You see the Department of Environmental Protection and the Federal government convinced the people of Centralia that their little town was going to burn up with the mine fire. The state took eminent domain over the town in 1993 and all but maybe 9 homes are gone. The people of Centralia take real good care of their town, their municipal building has the nicest manicured lawns I've ever seen, and the flag flies above the building every day. They still have a fire department. One thing they don't have is a zip code, the postal service took that away too. Now they get their mail delivered from Ashland, a town to the south of them. Every one of their yards are well taken care of and their homes are very neat and clean. It's awful strange for people who believe they are going to be burned out. But you see they're not going to be burnt out, they are going to be evicted by the state of Pennsylvania. You see the state went out of their way to prove by monitoring and testing, that the people would die if they stayed there. The fumes from the mines would kill them or their water would be no good or worst of all they would be burnt out. Some people didn't believe that and they chose to stay. Some of the old people knew the mines too well. They fought the courts and lost, now there's no hope for them unless it can be proved that the state and the federal government was wrong. You see Centralia unlike the rest of the state owns the mineral rights under their homes, which is estimated to be billions of dollars in coal. Now if they are gone, the mineral rights turn over to the state and by some miracle the fire goes out, then the state can sell those rights to a coal company who is interested and they make a fortune, and turn the quiet town into another big black hole, like the rest of the state.

Here is an update! I received an email telling me John Lokitis' home was torn down. I had to go an see for myself. This afternoon (1/6/2010) I took a ride there and found out not only John Lokitis' home was torn down, but also John Comarnisky's. It's strange , because Mayor Merwine's is still there. Not only does the mayor's home remain, but we caught the mailman delivering to his mail box. Cars were all over taking pictures as before and people were out looking at things. Someone with a small truck was plowing the streets, I guess he was from Ashland, because he left in that direction. Only 3 small smokers did we see on the hill today, nothing more than in September. And 2 of the vents on the hill were cold compared to still being warm in September. The Christmas lights were up and there was a manger scene on the main street corner. We took a ride up to Wilburton and found the memorial and the bench in front of the building marked with a sign "American Legion Centralia Post 608, Wilburton, PA" on the corner of the lot, just as John told us they were. Naturally, I've included pictures to see of today's trip.

As if Centralia needed any more devastation, they sure didn't need the 50 some tombstones that were toppled in Odd Fellows Cemetery over the Christmas holiday. We saw the news on WNEP and took pictures there today (1/6/2010) also.

This one looks like it might have been the stone of a small child or baby.

On a brighter note, I took some pictures of the Christmas decorations, here are 2 of them.

The dedication to this town by it's remaining citizens is incredible.

After careful thinking I decided to put in this picture of an 1882 mining map that I downloaded from the Penn State Digital Library. I inserted a few points. If anyone has followed the story of Centralia they would know the fire followed the Buck Mt. vein. This map depicts the Buck Mt. vein and the western extent of the vein. Also note the distance between the Buck Mt. vein and the bottom of the Mammoth vein in red. I inserted this for your viewing pleasure and for you to draw your own conclusions.

I finally got a chance to see the Town That Was, the documentary of Centralia. If anyone could view that and still have a dry eye, then they must have no feelings at all. It made me more interested in trying to find a way to stop the state and save the people that are still there. But this is hard to do on my own. If I could enlist some of the former people of Centralia to help, it would be a lot better.


Centralia in the	early 1960's


Centraila in the 1970's	Centralia 1986

When I was there on Saturday, May 16, something just didn't seem right. I didn't smell any sulfur and I only saw some small puffs of smoke coming out of a few small vents coming out of the ground by the cemetery. Oh, yes, and I can't forget the big cracks that are in the old route 61 that had some small smoke puffs coming from them. When I came home I couldn't get the town out of my mind, so I checked every source I could on the internet and I collected pictures from 1999 forward. What really got my attention was some pictures that were taken from a plane. The area where the fire was was contained to the top of the hill by the cemetery and old route 61. My question was, why after 47 years didn't the fire move more. Why didn't the fire go south toward Ashland, and why didn't it go west toward Mt. Carmel, and above all why didn't it go down the hill toward the houses? I had to go back and see more and see if I could talk to one of the residents.

With those thoughts in mind I went back today. I rode around the yards where the vent pipes and monitors were and they were all gone. A few stragglers were here and there, I think I found 2. On the hill by the origin of the fire there were 6 huge vents, each marked with a number. There was no smoke and they weren't even warm. One of them was stuffed with bricks and trash. The metal cages around them were broken and they looked like they hadn't been maintained for quite a while. After riding around for almost 2 hours, I was stopped by one of the residents, who asked me if I was looking for something. I asked him why there were no vents and monitors and he said the fire is almost OUT. It was as I had suspected. He said the reason they hadn't left, his grandfather knew the mines and knew the fire would not come down the hill. He told me that his family had to be out by Labor Day. I asked him if there was any way they could be able to stay there and he said no. He was a very nice person and I felt very bad for him and the rest and if there is anything in my power to help these people I will. Someone wanted that coal so bad they forced 1100 people from their homes and the state and federal government allowed this to happen. I'm not looking to anyone, but there are NO TRESPASSING signs on the hill by the origin of the fire, and they belong to a coal company. Oh by the way, that resident was John Lokitis.

Here are some pictures of Centralia today.


The Time Capsule to be opened in 2016	Memorial to the war veterans 5/30/09


St Ignatius Cemetery on the hill by the fire.	Odd Fellows Cemetery where the fire began.


The Municipal Building with it's manicured lawn	The Old Park Bench


Russian Orthodox Church Still Holds Mass	St. Peter & Paul Orthodox Cemetery


This praying soldier silhouette is in St Ignatius cemetery	This beautiful shrine is part way down the new route 61


Vent pipes with broken cages	Gas monitors with nothing coming out


An old well casing plugged up with junk.	Another monitor sealed shut (On the hill where it's hot)


Monitor with the top off (plastic bottle inside)	Another monitor with the top broken.


The only visible signs of the fire today	are these small puffs of smoke rising from the hill.


Location of the fire	origin, now backfilled.

Something was brought to my attention as I was writing this. I was reminded of the subsidence's in Drifton, PA, a short distance from where I live. I believe there were 3 in the last 15 years. The people of Drifton begged the state to buy their properties and they refused (Articles in the Hazleton Standard-Speaker 2008). The last subsidence was only about a year ago. The Office of Surface Mining came in and filled the ground with cement and told the people it was alright. One of the residents had no mine subsidence insurance and had his home torn down, it was the second time for him. Why wasn't the state interested in his home? Maybe the coal was all gone from underneath and of course, he didn't own the mineral rights.

Some of the pictures I captured from the internet, are some of the most heartbreaking I've ever seen. I've put them here to see if they have the same affect on the public.


Mike O'Reilly's house in Brynesville being torn down	This was the Moyer home.

Coddington's Gas Station & Home Being Demolished


I think the saddest I've ever seen	was to seen this beautiful church being torn apart

It's obvious to me that the good people of Centralia care about their town and are a very religious people. It's also very obvious to me that the state has shown their side and don't care about them at all. They know they've won or at least think so, this is evident because of the deteriorated shape of their monitoring devices and venting system. They've scared away most of the people and they'll force the rest out. I don't see how anyone could live with themselves doing such a vicious thing to these people. The man I spoke to this afternoon told me "greed and fear tore this town apart". Only misfortune will fall on those who deceived this community of it's mineral rights.

On June 3rd John Comarnisky, one of Centralia's final residents was forced from his home. John said "I didn't think they would ever get to the point when they would say you have to go. Obviously, I thought it would be a situation where they would let us stay as long as we want to - die of old age here, live our lives as we wanted to here."


This is John speaking with news people.	This is John's home far away from the fire.

I had a chance to visit Centralia on Sunday June 28 and John's house was still standing. I don't know if they are waiting for the rest of the people who have to go to rip it down or what.

Another thing John can't understand is this 2008 document saying the air in Centralia was fine.

Something is obviously not right here.

This is the former site of John Cormanisky's home on 1/6/2010, now replaced by an empty lot and a heart sign that reads "Centralia with Love - Kingston, NY".

Here are pictures of the corner where the bench stood and what's left of the memorial that stood in front of the American Legion.

Never fear they were taken to Wilburton and placed in front of the "Centralia Post 608"

One of the hardest things I've ever had to see was John Lokitis having to move out of Centralia by Labor Day. He was the person how had spoke to me on our second visit there. He is only 35 years old, but he was the caretaker of Centralia. He repaired the Christmas lights and hung them at Christmas time, he mowed lawns at some of the important locations in the town, he put the flag up at the memorial and opened and closed the gates to St. Ignatius Cemetery every day. That's all gone now, they forced John to move. I went down to visit after he left, the memorial was all taken apart and the flag removed, the famous Centralia bench was gone. It was very upsetting. With no one to take care of the town it will really go down hill. They haven't taken down his house yet or the other John's. I guess they are waiting for the rest to go and then go in and rip them down at one time. I spoke to John through email and he assured me the memorial was all right, because he couldn't be there to maintain it, it was taken to the American Legion Post Home in Wilburton, along with the bench. I can't imagine what it would be like to just walk away from your grandfather's home like that.

Here is a picture of John's home that was taken Sep. 5.

This picture was taken 1/6/2010 of where John's home stood.

Centralia Weather Forecast, PA

This is a scanned document from the Residents To Save The Borough Of Centralia, March 1984.
These people weren't as stupid as the state thought.

If only those who left would have believed those who stayed, things might have been different.

BLESS THE PEOPLE WHO REMAIN IN CENTRALIA
AND THE PEOPLE WHO WERE AFRAID TO STAY

I have started 3 petitions online to President Obama to try and save the people of Centralia
Please sign any one of my petitions.

Click the pictures below.

Recording studio

This page was updated 1/6/2010