Unseen Danger: A Tragedy of People, Government, and the Centralia Mine Fire

by David DeKok

Award-winning journalist David DeKok tells, for the first time, how the Centralia mine fire really started in 1962. He shows how local, state and federal government officials failed to take effective action, allowing the fire to move underneath the small town of Centralia, Pennsylvania. By early 1981, the fire was sending deadly gases into homes, forcing the federal government to install gas alarms. A 12-year-old boy dropped into a steaming hole in the ground wrenched open by the fire's heat on Valentine's Day as the region's congressman toured nearby. DeKok tells how the people of Centralia banded together to demand help from the government, finally winning money to relocate much of the town.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, United States

316 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[Anne S · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think that David DeKok did a good job writing about the mine disaster and how different entities played a role in why the mine fire was never contained and never put out. He begins the book in 1981 when one of the former mayors of the town was moved by ambulance to a nearby hospital because he collapsed due to mine gases that had escaped to his house. Even though the fire had been burning for 20 years at that time, it did not get national attention until a young man fell into one of the open steaming holes in his back yard. Throughout the book, he chronicles the difficulty in containing the burn because of the cost that was going to associated with it and who was going to be responsible for paying for it.

He covered the story back in the 1980s when he was a reporter in a town nearby and wrote this book thinking that the fire was going to be solved relatively soon after. He was wrong. Three to five years+ afterwards the townspeople houses were bought out by the government because it was too dangerous to live there anymore. This was after many years of governmental officials telling them that it was safe to live there and the fire would spread away from the town and not towards it.

Currently the people of Flint, Michigan are going through a similar problem with their water crises and this book brings up valid concerns over what could have been done sooner to alleviate the problem instead of waiting until it was too late.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about the history of a region and people who lived in a small town in Pennsylvania, called Centralia. In 1962 a trash pit burning set off a coal vein fire that has been burning ever since. The government offered the residents many millions to uproot their lives and move due to the danger of the area. This is a sad tale of man's ignorance and the fury of nature, I suppose. The world will do what it wills but is rarely as devastating to us as we are to the world. This book really is an informative and tragic tale. Simple, hardworking folk who have their lives uprooted by a simple accident. It is expected that the fires below Centralia will burn for decades, possibly centuries. Really an eye opening experience and a truly amazing read.

Danny

[Selena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a very interesting book on government (mainly Republicans) passing the buck while people suffer. It's amazing what people had to endure while bureaucrats decided their fate. Great writer and very interesting account of a fire burning underneath a town!!! One could only imagine! I'd love to read a "where are they now" book on the town and what happened to the mine fire. I mean, this book was published like 23 years ago.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most comprehensive account of the Centralia Mine Fire available, written by a reporter who covered many of the later events. The author is also a very nice guy who offered quite a bit of assistance with my abortive attempt to make an audio documentary on the subject a few years back. I've reread this a few times.