# Volo Bog Fire **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 17, 2017, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volo-bog-fire/801846 "2017-11-17T05:22:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volo-bog-fire/801846/1 "2017-11-17T05:22:52Z")
Hi, everybody. My husband was going on and on tonight about a fire burning underground in the Volo Bog that’s been going on for years. I have done a search on google for everything I could think of, but no luck. Does anybody here know ANYTHING about it? I was skeptical, but he says it was/is burning for years. I didn’t grow up around here so I have no knowledge of it, but apparantley it’s one of those things that is common knowledge up here in the NW 'burbs. Anybody have any insight?? ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volo-bog-fire/801846/2 "2017-11-17T05:32:20Z")
There’s been an underground fire in Centralia, PA since 1962 ([This Abandoned Pennsylvania Town Has Been On Fire For 53 Years | HuffPost Life](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/this-abandoned-pennsylvania-town-has-been-on-fire-for-53-years_us_55df6490e4b08dc09486d4a0)) - could that be what he is thinking of? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volo-bog-fire/801846/3 "2017-11-17T05:39:13Z")
Yeah, I was wondering about Centralia too. The Centralia fire is a coal seam fire. The Volo Bog has a lot of peat in it, and peat bogs are occasionally subject to persistent smoldering peat fires, and climate change seems to be making them worse. North American boreal forests are suffering from various peat fires, but I don’t see any reference to one in the Volo Bog. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volo-bog-fire/801846/4 "2017-11-17T11:14:23Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > There’s been an underground fire in Centralia, PA since 1962 ([This Abandoned Pennsylvania Town Has Been On Fire For 53 Years | HuffPost Life](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/this-abandoned-pennsylvania-town-has-been-on-fire-for-53-years_us_55df6490e4b08dc09486d4a0)) - could that be what he is thinking of? That’s no where near the oldest coal fire. There’s one in Australia that’s been burning for [6000 years](https://gizmodo.com/the-worlds-oldest-underground-fire-has-been-burning-fo-1539049759)! (I wonder how they know its age.) Those two are not the only underground coal fires; the article discusses some others. It seems to be a fairly common phenomenon. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volo-bog-fire/801846/5 "2017-11-17T12:00:33Z")
“Underground” and “bog” are not words that go well together. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volo-bog-fire/801846/6 "2017-11-17T13:11:37Z")
Been several years since I’ve been there, but there was no sign/mention of a fire when I was. Lifelong Chicago area resident since 1960. I’ve long been “aware” of the area due to the Volo car museum and the Volo Bogtrotters, so I would imagine I would have noticed anything in the news. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2017, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volo-bog-fire/801846/7 "2017-11-18T05:11:40Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Been several years since I’ve been there, but there was no sign/mention of a fire when I was. Lifelong Chicago area resident since… Same here. I’ve been to the Volo Auto Museum a few times and I know about the bog. I’ve never heard anything about a bog fire there. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2017, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volo-bog-fire/801846/8 "2017-11-18T05:17:25Z")
Yeah - I think it’s an urban legend locally. My husband has also been losing his memory lately, especially when he’s drinking. Thanks, everyone! Appreciate it! ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2017, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volo-bog-fire/801846/9 "2017-11-19T00:50:44Z")
A bog is composed almost entirely of water. Occasionally the surface will dry out to the point where it can burn or smoulder. But the deeper layers of the bog are far too wet to sustain combustion. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2017, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volo-bog-fire/801846/10 "2017-11-19T02:08:37Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > A bog is composed almost entirely of water. Occasionally the surface will dry out to the point where it can burn or smoulder. But the deeper layers of the bog are far too wet to sustain combustion. Here’s an interesting article about [how bog fires burn](https://globalnews.ca/news/2801887/burns-bog-fire-how-bog-fires-burn-and-why-theyre-difficult-to-combat/). And while I lived not too far from the Volo bog back in the 1970’s, I fear I too have never heard of the famous Volo bog fire.