Stand atop a 40 year coal fire

Centralia, PA -- In 1961, some people were burning trash near a coal mine and the fire spread to the coal vein found in the side of the mountain. Efforts to put out the fire only made the fire worse and thus one of the more interesting attractions on my trip was born. The fire was inextinguishable as it spread to the entire coal vein, which in turn basically set the entire mountain on fire. Now this isn’t a fire like you would typical think, put a very slow burning non flammable fire that produces a lot of smoke and a very nasty odor. As the coal burns it becomes unstable and the ground above it collapses. Well, the town of Centralia sat on top of this coal vein, and therefore had to be evacuated. The remnants of the old town are there (over grown roads going to nowhere) but only a few houses still exist. It's really eerie. Here's the pix I took with me and my cousin on top of the fire... the ground is actually really warm here. You can see my cousin in the second pic. http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/PACENmine.html