Nice production, if somewhat unbalanced in certain respects. As the author of Fire Underground: The Ongoing Tragedy of the Centralia Mine Fire, I can tell you that (a) the fire was started accidentally by the town itself, to clean up the landfill, and (b) that Concerned Citizens Action Group Against the Centralia Mine Fire were the good guys in the story. The relocation was handled humanely, and Centralia residents received generous payments for their homes, at least in the main relocation. The Mayernicks, the tragic murder-suicide couple mentioned in the piece, lived in a rental that the owner had sold to the Redevelopment Authority.

The idea of a city in part never dying because of generation after generation coming home to rest eternally kind of blew my mind. I really enjoyed all the stories on what makes cities tick...great job radiolab!

I grew up in Millville, PA and I remember traveling through Centralia. I still tell people about it but they don't really understand. Great job on this piece!!!

So I'm a huge Radiolab fan, and I'm listening to "Cities," and next thing you know I hear Centralia being mentioned. That has to have been my coolest moment as a listener, considering I live literally 30 seconds away from Centralia.

Keep it up everyone at Radiolab!