The Centralia Accident

[Sonnarkku]

I just discovered about this yesterday, there might already be users that already know about it, but for the ones that don´t, let me explain you, Centralia is a city located in Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania has one of the biggest industries of coal, Centralia used to be a common town with a coal mine, but one day, the coal started to burn, the burning did not stopped because of the coal, the authorities tried to control the fire but there was too much coal, the fire was too big and there was not enough money to do enough about it so the goverment gave up and the mine has been burning for over 30 years, the forests are burned, ground goes so hot that you could light a match by just touching it, the road 61 has also been destroyed due to the coal that burnt, the ground is constantly making ¨crack¨ sounds and white smoke comes out from the ground. They say this is where the creators of Silent Hill got the idea.

What could have started the fire? could the goverment have done anything else than the failed efforts to stop the fire? will the mine really be burning for the next 1,000 years? and overall, what are your thoughts on it?

VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjtmaCI9_wM

 

[Fawfulfan]

I learned about this roughly 8 YEARS ago. The cause of the fire was garbage burning in an open pit near one of the old mine entrances.

 

[Cue]

Would it be so hard to pump the entire mine full of water...? :(

 

[Fawfulfan]

Would it be so hard to pump the entire mine full of water...? :(

Coal mine fires can't be put out with water for several reasons:

1. First, it would cost WAY too much. Probably tens of millions of dollars, if not hundreds of millions or even billions.
2. Coal mine fires have too much fuel around them for any water pumped into the mines to extinguish it.
3. Coal mine fires are so hot that most of the water would turn into steam before it even reached the flames. Additionally, having that much steam under the pressure of the mine tunnels can easily create a massive underground explosion.
4. Assuming all these problems could be overcome, you would still need to know the exact layout of the mine tunnels to be sure that the water would flow in the right direction. Old maps of the mine tunnels are unreliable. The mines have been abandoned for decades, and many tunnels have collapsed due in equal measure to weakened support beams and damage from the fires. As if that weren't enough, people sometimes created bootleg mine tunnels to dig up and sell their own coal, and these tunnels aren't shown on any map.

So, water won't work. But what about other methods?

Sometimes, burning coal mines can be dug up to create fire breaks or excavate enough material to deplete the source of the blaze. But this method is most effective when you're trying to contain a recently ignited fire and prevent it from spreading, and attempting this with the Centralia fire would be pointless. The damage has been done.

Another common way to stop coal mine fires is to pump grout into the mine tunnels to cut off the oxygen supply. In this case, the main problem with this method is expense. Completely filling the Centralia mine simply isn't worth the money.

Bottom line? The government doesn't have any practical method of putting out this fire. The only thing that can be done is to abandon the town and let the fire run its natural course. Unfortunately, the "natural course" of a fire like this could be decades or even centuries. It's an enormous mess.

 

[Sonnarkku]

This way to put out the fire may sound archaic, or even stupid, but why not just put dynamite on that thing to blow up all the coal at once? I know that floor would crash, but theres not much to care about, less than 15 people, garbage and no animals (it's a dead forest, not much can live there) I don't see why not to try this out).

 

[AshuraXDemon]

Don't worry, Global Warming will fill it up.

 

[Fawfulfan]

This way to put out the fire may sound archaic, or even stupid, but why not just put dynamite on that thing to blow up all the coal at once? I know that floor would crash, but theres not much to care about, less than 15 people, garbage and no animals (it's a dead forest, not much can live there) I don't see why not to try this out).

Perhaps...but one other problem with that is that coal is flammable, but not volatile. Blowing up dynamite inside the mine will destroy that section, but not the entire network of tunnels.

 

[Boinciel]

Fire needs three things. Fuel, heat, and oxygen from the air. We can't remove the fuel with explosives, and we can't remove the heat with water. The solution? Plug up the entrances so air cannot enter. If the fire is still burning, there's an entrance that hasn't been plugged. If all of them are closed up, the fire will run out of air eventually, and stop burning.

 

[Arf]

What Boin said. But the big problem would be filling up every crack, hole, and earth pore. That would be a nigh impossible task.
Anybody else thinking Silent Hill, here?

 

[Mystic]

Silent Hill was actually inspired by Centralia, Arf.

 

[SSNTails]

Hah, I've been there before. I have a friend in the neighboring town, Mt. Carmel.

It's awesome to see the piece of the highway they had to bypass because it got all cracked up, and the streets in the town are laid out like houses used to be there, but it's just grass.

 

[Eidolon]

I'd like to visit that mine, I bet it looks awesome by now.

 

[Fyrus]

Global Warming

GTFO. (Not really) I believe that it is simply a natural part of the Earth's cycle. It's happened even before we had this kinda stuff. But I do agree that the pollution needs to be stopped.

 

[Cyan Ryan]

What does this have to do with global warming?

 

[Mystic]

Well, a continuous fire burning underground for centuries will generate a lot of CO2. Not that we don't generate far MORE CO2 through pollution, but it does generate global warming somewhat =P

 

[Jacy]

I think what he meant about global warming though was that it would cause huge floods and probably put out the fire from almost every opening...

Don't worry, Global Warming will fill it up.

But you are also right Mystic. That would cause alot of Carbon Dioxide to come out. Thus contributing to the Global warming that would then put it out.

But I understand that this was a great place for silent hill to come from. Especially when they are doing a remake of the first game for the newer consoles while also making it slightly different... Like Kirby Super Star Ultra.
I saw it in a recent Game Informer magazine, they even have the screens of it and it looks good. I hope they keep the final boss.

 

[Cyan Ryan]

Mystic, that's the point I was trying to make, it generates very little compared to stupid wasteful humans. :(

Anyways the Wikipedia article on Centralia says there are only 20-odd households around there. If I wasn't near the mine, I think it would be pretty cool to live there.