HNUM²

This is a documentary about the death of a town.  But it’s not the usual way a town dies.  Instead of a some industry drying up and no more employment available so people move away, this is a little more impressive.

You might have heard of Centralia, Pennsylvania.  It was partial inspiration for the Silent Hill movie.  It’s a town that has had coal fires burning underneath it for decades.

In 1962 a garbage fire accidentally ignited a seem of long, very hot burning anthracite coal.  It has been said that there was a very simple way to control the fire.  Unfortunately the first plan didn’t work.  And as a result, red tape caused a big delay in getting the required funding.  By then, it was too late to stop the fire.  The only thing to do was try and keep it away from the town itself.  This seemed to work until the 80s.  But then, the smoke and carbon monoxide started to billow from the ground around the town.  The roads buckled and some vegetation began to die.  It wasn’t until a young boy almost fell to his death when the ground collapsed that the government decided to take action.  Unfortunately, the cost of extinguishing the fire was now estimated to be over half a billion dollars.  The only thing that the government could do is to relocate the families.  In the 60s, there were over 3000 residents, now there are 11 people who refused to leave.  Even after the government used Eminent Domain to seize all property in the early 90s.

This is a pretty fascinating documentary.   It focuses a great deal on one of the remaining residents, John Lokitis.  It’s him talking about the towns past.  Giving a rundown on what went on, the former layout of the town, the people, the history.  There’s a lot of “Here used to be such and such’s house”  And with current aerial photography and past home movie footage it’s so strange to see the roads still there, looking just like a town, but where the houses are missing.   It’s also strange to see what looks like such an idyllic setting, but with plumes of smoke drifting from the ground a hundred feet away.

It’s also about John’s struggle to keep the town he loves alive.  From doing all the general upkeep, mowing the grass, keeping the electricity running, to making sure Centrailia still exists as it’s own entity when the post office tries to combine it with the closest neighbour town.  Putting up the Christmas lights.  Basically just keeping everything as close to it was as he can.  It’s sad to think, though, that when all the other older residents die, he’ll likely be forced out and then the town he’s worked so hard to keep alive will really die.