Video

It's picturesque, but Centralia in the eastern US state of Pennsylvania is almost a ghost town. The steady steam that rises belies the tragedy buried beneath: the worst underground coal mine fire in US history. What's shocking is the fire never went out. It's been burning for nearly half a century. It was in 1962 that a fire at a waste dump spread to natural fuel that lies beneath this town. The fire burns in an underground area 350 acres wide. Tim Altares is a geologist with the state's environmental protection department. "Some places, it can burn down to the mine pool, which is 350 to 400 feet deep. And some places it can burn right at the surface." Officials built an underground barrier, but that failed to stop the fire. So in 1982, the government offered to buy all the homes and relocate the residents. That was lot cheaper than the $660 million dollars it would cost to put out the fire. "To blast the rock out and physically excavate the fire out is enormously expensive. Um, there's just not enough money to deal with every fire in that fashion." All but ten took the cash. Schoolteacher John Comarnisky stayed put. "Truth is, we have deer, bear. Tons and tons of turkey, groundhogs, chipmunks, squirrels, you name it. And I've always wanted a house in the woods, and now I have one." Another holdout is Mayor John Lokitis. He prizes the hard shiny coal. So much so he believes the government overstated the dangers so it could buy out the residents. "I think someone wants to get their hands on this coal under the borough. Cause with us out, if they're successful in getting us out and emptying the town, remove all the people, there's nothing to stop someone from coming in and start mining the coal." But Altares says the dangers are real. Along with the steam come gases ... gases that keep coming out from the ground ... from a fire that could go on for decades more. Fred Katayama, Reuters.