Talk:Centralia mine fire

Leave as a Redirect
This seems better covered at Centralia, Pennsylvania, so should remain as a redirect. The two (the fire and the town) are linked at such a deep level that it makes more sense to leave them as a single article, rather than duplicate the material in two places. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 23:58, 22 April 2013 (UTC)


 * Mild disagree. Not a huge issue, but I definitely think of the Centralia mine fire as a national level phenomenon, separate from the city. Other editors invited to comment. -WikiSkeptic (talk) 15:21, 27 April 2013 (UTC)
 * There's an RfC on this now at Talk:Centralia, Pennsylvania - feel free to add comments to that centralized discussion. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 15:29, 27 April 2013 (UTC)

Extremely late vote, but I personally prefer the pages be separated. This page should actually be quite a bit longer once the intervention methods are expanded upon. Caitlin.swartz (talk) 01:00, 27 January 2019 (UTC)

Oops, just realized that I've commented in the wrong place. Caitlin.swartz (talk) 01:01, 27 January 2019 (UTC)

Title
The title Centralia mine fire should be typed as Centralia Mine Fire. How do I fix this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Leoesb1032 (talk • contribs) 21:23, 25 April 2013 (UTC)
 * No, per the Wikipedia Manual of Style, the correct title for the article is Centralia mine fire. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 01:29, 26 April 2013 (UTC)
 * I'm not going to edit war over it but Barek is correct, articles on Wikipedia use sentence case so Centralia mine fire is what the article title should be. - SudoGhost 02:45, 27 April 2013 (UTC)

I agree with Leoesb1032 because it is right. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Matthewb103 (talk • contribs) 23:46, 10 May 2013‎ (UTC)
 * Note: A fake source in the comment by Matthewb103 has been removed per the sockmaster's request. - Aoidh (talk) 00:21, 7 September 2014 (UTC)

Strike out two comments from sockpuppets of each other.Martin 4 5 1  (talk) 00:30, 29 May 2013 (UTC)

Wirral next with Coal Gasification in 2016 - — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.2.155.58 (talk) 23:30, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

Source of oxygen?
If somebody knows where the oxygen for the fire is coming from, would you please add this information.

In my simple view on fires, a good way to extinguish them is to pile heaps of dirt on them, hence cut of the oxygen supply. Why is this fire not running out of oxygen?

195.95.137.6 (talk) 05:54, 8 July 2015 (UTC) Unregistered 07:53, 8 July 2015 (CET)

I know you asked this 3.5 years ago, but I didn't see it until now. Coal seam fires are actually really common and may burn for hundreds or thousands of years because the fuel source is often massive and they are exceedingly difficult to extinguish. They can be started by lightning, wildfires, human activity, or spontaneous combustion of coal dust.

These fires tend to smoulder because the oxygen availability is so low. However, they typically cannot be smoothered because there are too many oxygen sources to realistically locate and fill. Furthermore, the burned coal creates soft ash which leads to weak spots and surface cracks. It's even more difficult to smoother coal seam fires in areas with mining tunnels because there are open air pockets. Thankfully, areas where a lot of coal has been mined may act as a fire break, which is why Mount Carmel isn't considered at risk.

I'll see where I can add this information because it is a great question that's not really covered by the coal seam fire Wikipedia page. Caitlin.swartz (talk) 00:58, 27 January 2019 (UTC)

source of power
O.K. we have a fire that is producing a large amount of heat. why hasn't anyone chosen to use this area for energy? seems to me a good way to make use of an area that is other wise just wasting away.I would think that a steam turbine or two, maybe more could produce electric power for the surrounding area.

This is actually a frequently asked question about this fire. They've looked into providing power from the fire, but the fire burns too unevenly and unpredictably to be a reliable power source. It's really a shame that all that coal is going to waste and contributing to atmospheric carbon, though. Particularly considering how common long burning coal seam fires are. These fires can last for hundreds or thousands of years because the fuel source can be quite large! Caitlin.swartz (talk) 01:06, 27 January 2019 (UTC)

External links modified
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Put fire out
Couldnt you use magnetic sand 75.89.185.173 (talk) 13:08, 2 November 2022 (UTC)

The magnectic sand the metal would melt than support ground also putting fire out cause the sand Akalilgary (talk) 13:17, 2 November 2022 (UTC)

Longest burning fire in PA is not this one!
There are fires that have been burning longer! Take Laura Run, PA it's been burn since the late 1800's! Still burning today as of Dec 2022! Lemont Furnace, PA is still at it since I think 1937! This search needs to be updated! There are 38 active fires in Pennsylvania! 69.145.71.142 (talk) 08:47, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

Regarding the connection to the Silent Hill series
I have made a small change to the Silent Hill note, pointing it to the movie article instead of the game series article as its the movie the one that draws from the mine fire concept, not the games, on the games there was no mine fire.

the connection made to the games was probably due to the reference attached, which is not really that good as whoever wrote that was clearly writing about the movie and have no idea about the games.

i will try to find a better reference. maybe an interview with the director or writer of the movie. Chuky Master (talk) 12:24, 6 July 2023 (UTC)


 * i managed to obtain a better reference, the actual production notes of the movie directly from Christophe Gans, the director of the movie, where he mentions why Centralia was chosen for the movie scrip thus i believe the new reference is more truthful to the subject and it merits completely replacing the old reference. Chuky Master (talk) 14:39, 7 July 2023 (UTC)

reference to Department of Mines and Mineral Industries not being found online
I did a quick search and came across this page https://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/aaGuide/AA-RG-45.html states that the DMMI was abolished in 1971 and "its powers and duties were transferred to the newly created Department of Environmental Resources."

Here's the whole paragraph found on the above link:

"RG-45. RECORDS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF MINES AND MINERAL INDUSTRIES The Department of Mines was created in 1903 to succeed the Bureau of Mines, which had been established in the Department of Internal Affairs in 1897. The name of the department was changed in 1956 to Mines and Mineral Industries. In keeping with its primary responsibility of protecting coal miners from unsafe working conditions, the department enforced the coal mining laws of the Commonwealth, inspected mines and collieries, investigated serious accidents, and supervised the examination and certification of applicants for certain mining jobs. The department also supervised the restoration of strip-mine areas, promoted research relating to new uses and markets for coal, and published the annual reports of the coal mine inspectors. In 1971, the Department of Mines and Mineral Industries was abolished and its powers and duties were transferred to the newly created Department of Environmental Resources." JennieWolfe (talk) 01:15, 6 June 2024 (UTC)