State officials announced Thursday that they will put out the mine fire burning near the village of Jeanesville in two years. But some residents, concerned about the continued impact the underground fire is having on their health and properties, still wonder if they could be living in the next Centralia.

Officials from the Department of Environmental Protection's mining arm updated residents on their plan to fight the mine fire, as well as the work that has already been done, at a meeting Thursday night in Tresckow. If all goes according to plan, the fire could be extinguished in two years, Mike Korb of the state's Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation, said.But many residents were more interested in how long they would have to deal with the haze and sulfuric odor caused by the fire, rather than the specifics of the plan."You can smell it every day," Jeanesville resident Melissa Loss said. "My daughter says 'get out of Jeanesville.' "They are also concerned about the impact on property value.Walter Bobowski lives in Tresckow, but sympathized with DEP executive deputy secretary John Stefanko who assured residents that there was no one to blame for the fire.A company mining on the site in the last few years discovered the fire, but it is believed to have been burning long before that, perhaps since the 1970s."Our interest is the health safety and welfare of the residents," Stefanko said. "We have the resources to put out the fire and we plan to."The department drilled more than 50 holes around the fire this summer to confirm its size. They now know it is approximately 29 acres, including abandoned mine land and the land currently being mined by the Hazleton Shaft Corporation.In order to extinguish the fire, DEP is planning to dig a trench around the sides of the fire where there is underground coal that could burn, removing 26 million cubic yards in total. At the same time Hazleton Shaft Corporation, will continue to put out the fire as they come across it, Korb said.In order to dispose of the burning underground material, DEP plans to clear 200 acres of forest around the site.When the project is complete, that land would be re-forested, Stefanko said.Officials admitted that the sulfur smell that residents experience will periodically be more noticeable."We're going to be exposing increased areas of burning, and putting water onto it. It's probably going to get worse before it gets better," Korb said.But they assured residents that while the air quality may be an inconvenience, it will not be a health hazard. Over the summer, DEP's air quality division regularly took samples in the area.While they did detect some air quality issues, the levels of dangerous chemicals were not at abnormal levels. Workers at Hazleton Shaft will continue to monitor the air quality levels throughout the project.If they detect any change in air quality, DEP will notify residents.Stefanko said that he sympathized with residents, but that the department was here to help them."I don't live here, but I have smelled it. And I can understand you, living next to that each day," Stefanko said to a concerned resident."But we believe this is the most expeditious way possible to extinguish the fire."