A long-burning coal-seam fire has burned beneath Centralia, Pennsylvania, since at least May 27, 1962, spreading through abandoned underground mine workings as deep as 300 feet across about 3,700 acres. Commonly linked to a landfill fire set during a town cleanup, the blaze resisted repeated efforts in 1962 and 1963 to contain or smother it, and some excavation may have worsened it by adding oxygen. Over time, extreme heat and poisonous gases revealed the scale of the danger. The fire turned Centralia from a mining town into a near-ghost town, leaving only five residents by 2017 and standing as a lasting environmental disaster tied to coal mining.