Question for Pa fellas

[nekshot]

Is Centralia still burning underground? Always went thru there on the way to sulivan and bradford county hunting. Must be 20 years since I went by there.

[dragon813gt]

Yes, still burning and I believe no one lives there at all any more. I drove through there a few months ago and it's a complete ghost town. Used to drive through there routinely in the late nineties and there were always a bunch of old guys on the corner w/ a "We Love Centralia" sign. That fire will be burning for decades to come.

[dkf]

Yep and it will be burning for years to come.

[John Allen]

It is still burning. You used to be able to ride your atv through there but they are cracking down on it this year.

[JSnover]

Still burning. I drove through in 2013 there were still maybe three or four occupied homes.

[Tom W.]

Isn't
part of Carbondale burning also? When I was a tyke and lived in West Clifford I had an uncle and his family that lived there. I hated to go because it stunk so badly.

As an aside​, my grandfather, who lived in Poland, was conscripted by the Russian army. After he left, or escaped, he came to America and went to Detroit to work in the auto industry. He made enough money that he bought a coal mine in Pennsylvania. Unfortunately the depression wiped him out, or I'd probably be owning a coal mine..

[dragon813gt]

Isn't part of Carbondale burning also?

Yes it is.

[nekshot]

thanks for the replies, I really thought if they could put a man on the moon and back they surely could outen that fire. Not that far away from the big river.

[Alstep]

I remember passing through the Carbondale area as a kid in the 50's, the slag piles were burning all around as far as you could see. At night the piles were all glowing red.

[dkf]

thanks for the replies, I really thought if they could put a man on the moon and back they surely could outen that fire. Not that far away from the big river.

Well it probably could be done if enough effort, time and money was thrown at it. Nothing the state is interested in or has. Problem is the fire followed the coal veins and you could end up doing a lot of digging over a large area to get it. Would have been nice if they got it done way back when shortly after the fires were started. Now, who knows how big it is and where the ground will give way next.

[RogerDat]

Not a lot of profit in pumping massive amounts of water into the ground, not a lot of cost to letting it burn. As pointed out already you could move a lot of water into that mine and not get to the fire since it has probably followed coal seams back from the mine so water wouldn't even get to it.

[RU shooter]

If they ain't gonna try to put it out at least find a way to use all those wasted btu's ! Who knows how large that coal vein is lots of wasted energy that could be converted into something useful

[William Yanda]

If they ain't gonna try to put it out at least find a way to use all those wasted btu's ! Who knows how large that coal vein is lots of wasted energy that could be converted into something useful

You catch 'em and you can have them.

[jbutts6785]

I drove through Centralia this past weekend on my way to a shoot. It is still burning. There are still a few houses there, maybe a half dozen. The cemeteries are there, and you can see the remains of the sidewalks and curbs. It seems to be a popular tourist spot with people pulling over and walking around the area.

I always thought that they could harness all that wasted heat energy too, but they decided to put a line of windmills along the top of the mountain instead. The western end of the line starts right outside of Centralia.

[dkf]

I can't recall ever going by those particular wind turbines that they were actually turning. Cleared all that woodland an ruined a nice mountain top for something that don't put out.

[jbutts6785]

I can't recall ever going by those particular wind turbines that they were actually turning. Cleared all that woodland an ruined a nice mountain top for something that don't put out.

I have seen them turning on occasion when I travel through there. But like this weekend, I don't think I have ever seen them turning fast enough to generate anything. And you are right, they did screw up a nice mountain top to put them up.

[RU shooter]

I can't recall ever going by those particular wind turbines that they were actually turning. Cleared all that woodland an ruined a nice mountain top for something that don't put out.

least they didn't go with a solar farm ! That would have made less energy in Pa than wind . We are blessed with next to none of either .

[RogerDat]

Large horizontal wind turbines only turn when the can produce power. The large propellers are hooked to a gear box so the speed of the blades has a lot less impact on the output. It may take a steady breeze of ~15 mph to start them but they will keep running and producing power down to ~7 mph.

Older models required some power from the grid to start moving so they would certainly only be given a starting "push" when wind detection equipment indicated that wind speed and consistency warranted it. Newer ones use permanent magnets and don't require the push from grid power. It is pretty old technology, but older installations tended to be put in locations with strong steady wind, newer ones can take advantage of morning and evening thermal breezes on the coast or hill top.