“A fire at the town dump in 1962 ignited an exposed coal vein, and Centralia was all but wiped off the map in the 1980s as the slow-burning fire spread underneath homes and businesses....”
Man that is wild. I’m ashamed of the money our politicians have wasted, while we let an American town basically burn down, very, very slowly. Surely we could have done something to stop or retard the fire. And now corrupt officials are trying to steal what little is left, at least if you believe the residents...and basically, I always believe the citizen over the government in cases like this.
The fire has been pretty effective at opening up the land for strip mining. Once its uncovered its easy to put out.
Burning Mountain in Australia has been burning for 6000 years.
There is a coal seam in Germany which has been burning since 1668.
Fascinating stuff.