Anger Spreads Like Fire
Residents who have lived above a smoldering underground coal mine fire for up to 21 years should get federal help now that they have voted to leave their homes and let government crews try to snuff the flames. “I would like to stay in my home, but I do not want to live on top of fire and gases,” said Mary Tyson, a 70-year-old Centralia native. A recent federal report warned that the fire, if unchecked, could spread to 3,700 acres--20 times the current size--and burn under all of Centralia and the nearby villages of Byrnesville and Germantown.