A friend of mine who lives in the area, worked for the state and back in the early 90's before that section of RT 42 was closed, that was part of his route during a snow storm. He worked the "A" shift out of the Centralia stock pile located between Centralia and Mt Carmel. He said back then during a snow storm, the roads would be covered w/ about 4+ inches of snow, but that section of Rt42 for approx. 200-300 feet the road would be bone dry because of the heat from the fire under the road. He also said that when plowing in that section of road, he'd look over out the passenger's window of the truck at the shoulder, he said he would actually see the blue flames under the rocks.


The mine fire was never actually under the town itself. It was along the mountain just outside the town.

 

I'm sure there is some risk associated with at least parts of the area. You could be walking along and the ground could give way, dropping you into an open stope made by the fire. I definitely wouldn't want to drive something as heavy as a truck through there.