Centralia, Pennsylvania, lived and died by anthracite coal. The town's population peakes at 2,761 in 1890, but by 1981 had dwindled to just over 1,000 - not unusual for a Pennsylvania mining town. But today Centralia has no more than a dozen inhabitants, and they are expected to be gone before too long.
The reason: an underground fire that has burned since 1962 in the labyrinth of abandoned coal mines beneath Centralia. It has decimated the town with smoke and toxic gases, and has since made history.
Fire Underground is the completely updated classic account of the fire that has been raging under Centralia for decades. David DeKok tells the story of how the fire actually began and how government officials failed to take effective action. By 1981 the fire was spewing deadly gases into homes. A twelve-year-old boy dropped into a steaming hole as a congressman toured nearby.
DeKok describes how the people of Centralia banded together to finally win relocation funds—and he reveals what has happened to the few remaining residents as the fiftieth anniversary of the fire’s beginning nears.