Centralia Mine Fire Tours

Spend 2-3 hours in Centralia with author David DeKok [Fire Underground] and hear what he has learned about  Centralia’s infamous mine fire in the course of 40 years of covering the fire as a newspaper reporter and writing the definitive book on the fire’s history. He will use large photographs to show you what the town used to look like, take you to where the fire started, explain why it was never put out, and tell you about the existential struggle of the people of Centralia with the underground fire–which they accidentally started–that doomed their town. Centralia in a sense was Pompeii in reverse, with the fire coming up from below rather than down from the sky. The two relocations of people that began in 1981 and 1984 reduced Centralia from a town of 1,000 people and 400 buildings to perhaps four or five of each. You will go to a location where you can safely feel the heat of the fire. The fee, which covers his time and travel expenses from Harrisburg, is $225 until the end of 2025, but will rise to $250 for group tours after Jan. 1, 2026.  I am also available for daylong (6-7 hours) tours for $500, where I take you to places not on the regular tour, such as the Centralia mine drainage tunnel and the old Irish graves in St. Ignatius Cemetery. I recently did this for a photographer working on a Centralia project. Payment by cash (preferred),  or by Venmo. You may contact him at (717) 439-4159, or ddekok113@gmail.com.

Reaction

“Thanks so much for a worthwhile and enlightening tour of Centralia!”

Harold Young and family, Altoona & Hollidaysburg, Pa., 10-24-2010

“I want to thank you so much for your guidance through the fire-maze of Centralia. My students absolutely loved the experience [and] found your book to be invaluable.”

–Patrick J. Lawler, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, 11-1-2009