Centralia: The Town That's Been on Fire Since 1962

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Music by Epidemic Sound

[@halfasinteresting]

Do you know about something that's a little bit interesting? Suggest it for a Half as Interesting video here: www.HalfasInteresting.com/suggest (Yes, we're running out of ideas. Isn't that obvious? A few weeks ago we did a video on an island that doesn't exist.)

[@Mr._Lechkar]

Your suggestion system must probably be fake, because none of my ideas were accepted.

[@Oceanic2409]

Do another one in the southern hemisphere like... ummmm When will the islands in the pacific go under da sea? i dunno but do research and do an episode about it yours sincerely GamingTrek

[@01DOGG01]

Do a video covering pioneering tech such as this kzbin.info/www/bejne/n6i5pmV4jLGNp6M

[@Oceanic2409]

@@rocketkids4 Now that's a good idea

[@thevoiceofcake]

Yoni The K I have set that link to redirect to this video

[@jerry3790]

If Ashland didn’t want to be threatened by the spreading fire then they should’ve not called themselves Ashland.

[@varana]

They're obviously trying to dupe the fire into thinking that it had been there already.

[@shurjoaunibar]

Also, Trashland would be engulfed by now.

[@LarimerFilms]

The people in Byrnesville (a former neighborhood between Centralia and Ashland [look it up]) were already made an example of.

[@CaseNumber00]

FUCKING KEK

[@ilyamosin3090]

Its a common knowledge that if you play dead the fire will avoid you

[@rowandoggo]

"Carbon Monoxide had the unfortunate side effect of making humans dead" Learn something new every day

[@kingsofserbiangameplay1623]

*The more you know*

[@tomaspietravallo3832]

I laughed out loud with that one

[@MaximNightFury]

_laughs in carbon monoxide poisoning_

[@ProfessorPolitics]

Wife sees me burying all of our charcoal: "What are you doing?" Me: "I'm about to make it so that we pay *zero* property taxes."

[@Crankiebox99]

Lol

[@1215joseph]

Nice

[@addust]

Wife: "and how will you do that?" Prof. Politics: "CENTRALIA"

[@reinatr4848]

1000th like

[@thejesuschrist]

I'll resist the hell jokes on this one.

[@VeritasVortex]

Jesus Christ How are you verified? You're not the real Jesus Christ. So blasphemous lol

[@xaltidine]

Michael Ramon Are you joking or are you just..

[@MinePlayersPE]

@@VeritasVortex i think it's just for satire, not for blasphemy

[@VeritasVortex]

MineMaster9PE I'm just amazed that Google would verify the channel

[@yoRockstardude134]

@@VeritasVortex why?

[@justingabriele3881]

The image you posted as the Lehigh Coal Company headquarters is, in fact, the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Building in Jim Thorpe, PA. The true base for the Lehigh Coal Company (or Lehigh Anthracite) is actually in the nearby town of Tamaqua. This is a nerdy Lehigh resident just doing their best to inform.

[@dangray4086]

Yeah, he does entertaining vids, but if you do more than scratch the surface, they're moderately shoddy with researched facts. I live not far from Tamaqua, some 16 miles (as the turkey vulture flies) from Centralia, and know a number of former residents. The long-time scuttlebut on the blaze is that it was intentionally set, to gain control of the extinguishing contract, which would automatically include salvage ownership rights on the aptly-named, and largely untapped "Mammoth Coal Vein". There have even been attempted and well-documented researches into this alleged skullduggery, but why would Wendover, or anyone flogging a KZbin channel want to bother with that sort of thing? Sheesh, even a simple web search hints at this, in the top results, and go a few pages in...

[@Gr_ub]

That’s what I thought too! I could tell from the brick buildings. Resident of Lehigh valley here too

[@alsohabib6936]

I knew I recognized that. PA gang

[@kamX-rz4uy]

@@dangray4086 The coal was not intentionally set on fire. That's a conspiracy theory that doesn't hold up. Now what is true is that there is still potentially billions worth of coal there, if it will be stripped out and who will profit from that is of concern.

[@dangray4086]

@@kamX-rz4uy All theories are invalid until and unless validated. Whether local lore as to the origin of the fire is correct or not, remains unconfirmed speculation. However, the lengthy and repeated negotiations regarding prospective extinguishing and salvaging rights were mostly public, and I know some folks still who were partly privy to internal (unnamed, since I have no proof in hand) coal company calculations/machinations. It remains public fact that several firms expressed interest in remediation/recovery, and mining engineering fact that had any of those efforts taken place within the first several years after ignition, that it could have been relatively easily excavated and doused. As always, a great place to start in investigations is to ask cui bono, both in short and long term? And what would the costs and benefits have been to the respective parties, then and in the future?

[@recklaser]

it burned because they didnt use squarespace

[@samb123]

Aggressive marketing much?

[@rafaeligmpraciano4123]

"www.maybedontsettrashonfireoveracoalmineandthenforgettoputitout.com"

[@Demonetizedh8re]

@@rafaeligmpraciano4123 really? I never would have known!

[@EthanBoBethan]

thanks to brilliant for making the fire not go on forever possible

[@thevideogamingchannel0]

OwO www.maybedontsettrashonfireoveracoalmineandthenforgettoputitout.com is a real link lmao

[@lucykwiatek5159]

Two things. 1. I live in the Lehigh Valley, so hearing that coal company name was the weirdest thing. 2. There's a theme park up in coal country called Knoebels which has a mine-themed dark ride, and by far the coolest part of that ride is an entire section themed around Centralia. It's wild.

[@kentrzacherl]

The Black Diamond is lit! As is the whole park 😄

[@denn1222]

I honestly thought Centralia was a town in Central Australia

[@01DOGG01]

There's another town in the US which has had its coal mine burning since 1884. Set on fire in a strike. Also, in Australia we have a 5000 year old coal fire.

[@andymadden8183]

Speaking of Australia, have you ever heard of Lake Disappointment?

[@para_magnus2200]

Andy Madden yes that’s where my sister and brother were born

[@davidhonkstvorisit4811]

I thought it was in California

[@IncapableKakistocrat]

Australian towns generally don't have the uninspired names you get in the US - there are three towns called Centralia, all are roughly in the centre of their state. Also Mexicali and Calexico (on the Mexican/Californian border, the former on the Mexican side), Calada (on the California/Nevada border), and Cal-Nev-Ari, just to name a few. Australian towns generally (though not always) either have Aboriginal names (e.g. Canberra, Wollongong), are named after towns/villages in the UK or people who did something important, or they just have weird names no one knows the actual origins of (e.g. Humpty Doo). We are shit at naming major geographical features though. There's the Great Sandy Desert and the Snowy Mountains.

[@petersmythe6462]

"The government agreed to let them live the rest of their lives in centralia." Translation: the government gave up on trying to save them from their own suicidal tendencies.

[@ordeaux26]

sounds accuracte

[@thiccnicc6848]

Translation: government stopped trying to forcibly take people homes and just let them live their lives

[@sanjayrai2934]

@@thiccnicc6848 they are gonna get burned

[@jpheitman1]

@@thiccnicc6848 *die their deaths. Don't get me wrong, I hate "The government is saving you from yourself" on principle. But the few remaining citizens should have enough sense to move out of the active disaster area. Reminds me a bit of the stubborn old coot who refused to leave his home in the Mt. St. Helens area in early 1980, despite the warnings. I don't even think they found his house afterwards, let alone him.

[@handle-schmandle]

The fire only affected a small portion of the town. Would you leave your home if you felt you weren’t in danger?

[@samooo6664]

Oh, I get the thumbnail pun!!! "Centralia wishes you a WARM welcome"

[@russcannon6725]

Centralia: Not sure if you want burial or cremation? You can have both!

[@sandroo.2304]

Now I finally remember where I left my Mixtape!

[@EyesOfByes]

Your channel is actually one of the funniest on the platform!! Your sarcastic, yet subtle punchlines paired with the kept professional voiceover, are comedy gold!!

[@hashemmi24]

I love the fact that this channel's videos are around 5 minutes of pure joy, not 10 minutes of please get to the point! , even the Segway to the ads are great. Love the channel, kudos to the team.

[@vorxer]

To the coal company, Dear Sir/Madam, FIRE! FIRE! HELP ME! Centralia Town, Pennsylvania Looking forward to hearing from you. All the best, The town of Centrailia

[@Pining_for_the_fjords]

Four! I mean five! I mean fire!

[@BoarVessel-BCEtruscanCer-xy7et]

I'll just put it over there with the rest of the fire

[@OnionChoppingNinja]

should have called 01189998819991197253

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

*Centralia:* OOOH!!! OOOH!!! JESUS CHRIST!!! I'M ON FIRE!!! OOOH!!! OOH!!!

[@freddie2012]

Oooohh he needs some miilkk

[@Skysiax]

Sounds Really wrong for me...

[@trod146]

Save me Tom cruise. Save me baby jesus.

[@kayzeaza]

You should of talked about the other town Burnsville. It’s right near the town, it was a smaller town that had all the citizens move and the town is now a strait up forest

[@HickoryJ]

0:22 you just described the history of my hometown in just a few seconds

[@OilBaron100]

That burning underground coal seam in Australia, is called “Mount Wingen” (also known as “Burning Mountain”). It is worth seeing. It is about four hours’ drive away from Sydney.

[@dhruvaaramesh4528]

That sponsor transition has been on fire too 🔥

[@KingCheckOut]

Title: The town that been on fire sense 1962 Me: Laugh in California

[@claymountain1300]

Dude your videos are getting more sarcastic every week 😂😂 love it tho

[@scottydude456]

2:21 that isn't the Lehigh Valley Coal Companies HQ!

[@mirzashanawaz3728]

*_I love the way the narrator puts everything in_*

[@jesseberg3271]

Seven residents and two churches? At best, one of those chruches has three members and the other four. How does that work?

[@ReptilianLepton]

They're not for Centralia per se but are attended by locals from the surrounding area. The better-maintained one is a small Ukrainian Greek Catholic parish church. That is a rather specific rite of the Eastern Catholic Church and there happen to be enough locals of Ukrainian descent who grew up in that rite to keep it going. Honestly I'm not sure if the other church is even there anymore, it might just be the cemetary these days.

[@amandatropp]

The jokes and quick witty remark on this one is so good!

[@SantaFe19484]

I live about 60 miles from Centralia. This is the closest place to my home mentioned in Wendover Productions.

[@mnths1770]

this is one of my new favorite videos of yours. the minecraft, their letter, the puns - all excellent

[@nunyabidness117]

I was working nearby and spent a day wandering around Centralia Pennsylvania. I did not see a single wisp of smoke, a single puff of steam or anything to give any indication whatsoever there is a fire under the ground.

[@handle-schmandle]

That seems like a refreshingly honest account…and painfully dull! Are you sure you didn’t ride on any roads that were actively buckling and tossing your car around? Or maybe you stood in one spot too long and your sneakers melted? Or were nearly asphyxiated by the poisonous fumes? Or perhaps you fried an egg or lit your cigarette on the sidewalk? Or maybe just narrowly escaped falling into a fiery hell pit as the earth opened up beneath your feet? Come on people we need to do better!

[@orcaXO]

Who else over thought about the title and thought it was Central AUSTRALIA

[@awvr777cpAC44]

I thought it was going to be about California

[@awvr777cpAC44]

@@00O3O1B trust me there are a lot of dumb people in this world

[@kayzeaza]

Yooo I love two hours from here!! I go all the time

[@marialenz4488]

I went there in the summer. I also stoped by the spray paint road. That was fun.

[@tdRftw]

Hey, I live 5 minutes from there! I’m from Mt Carmel (a few miles west of Centralia down Route 61) and I used to go to the graffiti highway all the time!

[@Crankiebox99]

"By force" shows a M1A2 shooting Me: ok then

[@troodon1096]

Well, not literal force. It turns out that most people are perfectly happy to leave a town that's on fire especially when the government is willing to pay them to do so. But there's always a few stubborn holdouts for some reason. Usually the government figures they'll die eventually, which means the problem tends to solve itself in the long run without the expense and bad PR of using tanks.

[@keriezy]

That opening scenario was the best thing I've heard all day.

[@posontic]

You mentioned this in your Every State video on Wendover Productions

[@pingpongpung]

Free start button: 0:07

[@jbking6132]

A few Weird questions, 1. if the fire is underground why can’t they just seal off the mine and landfill to cutoff oxygen supply? Or even just cover the whole area with a tarp, or concrete slab. 2. How do large underground coal fires continue to get oxygen for combustion? Does it rely solely on the opening, or does it get new oxygen access as it destroys the earth around it, or does the ground have to be porous for coal fires to exist? 3. How old and how vast is the ancient coal fire in Australia? Do you have a map?

[@GoldMaker]

I needed more information about this town thanks

[@usethefooorce]

1:13 - a missed opportunity to play the song "We didn't start the fire"...

[@mikegilbey869]

I grew up near Burning Mountain in NSW Australia!

[@largesoda1729]

That's a coal video

[@4ltrz555]

Leave.

[@glitchystaticz]

hearing a place so close to where I live mentioned is surreal despite the fact that my city is in the top 10 largest cities in pa

[@dennis2003bengel]

Am I the only one who thinks that his mixtapes are actually on fire? I believe that it would be extremely f**king awesome

[@jacobhaft9714]

I had a SAT training question on this recently 😮

[@jus_VAMPIRE]

“Opening up holes to the under world” Hold up

[@blessthishotmess719]

I live about an hour away and visited it once. I think I ended up on the wrong side of town because I ended up near some sand dunes.. Dunno. Great vids, btw!

[@peterfrancis2330]

Centralia: smoldering coal mine fire China: Raging coal mine fire

[@-vanman88-82]

1:08 Hay thats the mine display at the oak ridge children's museum

[@BobMcCoy]

*That town must be too lit*

[@hally_5]

I’ve been to Centralia before :) it’s a really cool, I mean..hot story lol I’ve been to it because my Grandma lives a few towns over

[@suprememeowmix9613]

Coming from someone who lives half an hour down the road, it’s nothing much. You’re better off touring the Yuengling Brewery or going geyser hunting.

[@Dtwer]

This is one out of many reasons king Orm wants to invade the surface dwellers and Arthur is the bad guy for wanting to stop him

[@nolemon_]

Ive been there in person. Amazing place. The highway is so spooky

[@marktheshark8320]

Thought I was going to learn something about Centralia, WA.

[@quentinc712]

I went there once and it was a little creepy, with the barren, overgrown streets and the one house i saw

[@gautamdiwan5952]

1:29 that is so coal

[@sinecurve9999]

"We didn't start the fire. It's been always burning since the world's been turnin'."

[@mattl.5827]

I live an hour from centralia, in lebanon Pa

[@shockwave5484]

Wow I was seeing the same topic in another video, but this one is way better

[@ApolloTheDerg]

I wonder if anyone has been able to maybe drill to an area where it has burned already or is currently burning, I want to see whats going on down there if there are cavities.

[@aakashm9962]

Residents of Centralia: AAAAAHHHHH!!! That's hot! That's hot!

[@terrydirks4441]

4:07 At least Ashland will have an appropriate name.

[@IlovegamesYT123]

Anybody who lives in NEPA knows the firefighters started the fire

[@yokoa3825]

4:12 bottom left *"Ashland"*

[@Gr_ub]

Shoutout to my state and fellow peeps Leigh valley! We made it into a vid!

[@Alexkk47]

Pennsylvania has lots and lots of underground mines

[@seanli7493]

This is one of the must passive aggressive hai episodes ever.

[@redz4067]

Just turn fire spreads off

[@galaxymew5138]

I think I saw this on Mysteries of the Abandoned

[@merco3626]

The puns in this video are on fire

[@AshKetchum442]

It was always burnin, since the worlds been turnin

[@xWood4000]

It takes a long time to setup a squarespace website if tge domain is long, but only because of your writing speed.

[@danialamin252]

1:39 who else thought of Snape's memories in HP. OK JUST ME

[@mikebar42]

If nobody is going to put the fire out then maybe we should be trying to capture the energy

[@rewses789]

*What a hot town*

[@rusty4535]

Coal burns?

[@Neptunia120]

I used to live in a town called Centralia.. o~O

[@boggybolt6782]

Well I was *going to* make a joke about a mixtape before I watched the video but then 7 seconds in I realized I can't

[@PatoSwag]

Yes

[@CanadaPlayz48]

Half as Interesting: There were open mineshafts... *Screen shows minecraft mineshaft. Half as interesting: Coal burns. *Screen shows minecraft coal (What is with minecraft im this video?)

[@schweizerd6303]

How much coal is there, like what is the radius? Do they know the maximum distance the fire could possibly travel?

[@BluDog35]

When you can clearly see your house on a HAI video... haha

[@DoctorPenguin21]

Silent Hill indeed.

[@skywarslord4680]

I got a square space add on a video With a square space sponsorship

[@dannyshurr1748]

I live in Centralia Washington and I thought this was about my home town. Lol.

[@Complexity03]

I actually live not too far away from there. Only about 20 minutes.

[@halo-sd5qe]

I have ancestors from Centralia. Some are buried in the cemetary

[@derpypaws1250]

I thought this town was in Australia

[@ConfuzzledTomato]

Wow this guy is so much more interesting than that plane poser called Wendover production

[@jgr7487]

call the Doom man, because that's no coal fire, it's a portal into Hell!

[@AndrewFilms715]

I actually live a few hours away from this.

[@jasonator69er]

There is one of these in Pennsylvania too. A big cold mine was sent on fire and the town got evacuated.

[@criscucciuffo4483]

Big Lehigh valley shout out

[@danrodrigues3531]

This may be a stupid thought but I would think that the coal would be deprived of oxygen since it's underground and put itself out. Obviously, that isn't the case so can anyone explain why it continues to burn?

[@bomb8406]

Appreciate the nod at the beginning to the living hell that is UK Politics atm lol

[@whatinthegoddamn576]

Now that's a lot of damage!

[@kato4792]

2:55 why chalk a p**** on the road. *contemplates human existence*

[@shrekonion8307]

i honestly dont know what swear word has 3 letters and start with p

[@Rosario_Verano]

That's a really cool idea for a movie y'all xD

[@mitchs.920]

2:52 has some awesome hotdog shaped graffiti.