+10 The Earth has probably not been without a manmade fire since the hominids who first discovered how to make it. A fire has been burning ever since. Also, what if one of the first manmade fires has been kept alive since it was lighted hundreds of thousands of years ago? Passing from torch to torch. amirite?

by Barrowseino 2 hours ago

The Zoroastrians have got a fire which has been burning since 470 AD. I'd be a bit surprised if there were any much older. There's a fire in Australia which has been burning for six thousand years, and the Aborigines reckon one of them started it.

by Anonymous 1 hour ago

I don't think people quite understand how amazing this actually is

by Nikolausfidel 1 hour ago

I don't think I do. A coal seam 100 feet deep caught and burns only 3 feet a year. But has been going continuously for six thousand years. My daily life has not prepared me to compare these kinds of numbers. It's difficult to wrap your head around. Where does the oxygen for combustion come from? It must be not a lot which is why 3 feet a year, but how was it never snuffed out by lack of oxygen? Does it sometimes hit a pocket with more oxygen and burn faster?

by NothingFancy4591 1 hour ago

The earth is porous. Smoke can escape and reach the surface so the reverse where oxygen can reach and sustain the combustion is also happening.

by Naive-Classroom-5079 1 hour ago

If smoke comes out it must be making a low pressure pocket so air has to come in

by Obvious-Touch5981 1 hour ago

My guess is there's trace water trapped in the coal that helps supply the oxygen

by Anonymous 51 minutes ago

That's so awesome, I was about to search up the longest burning fires since fire is just so interesting in how it lives for as long as the 3 requirements (heat, fuel, oxidizer) are met. Thanks for sharing.

by Barrowseino 48 minutes ago

While we can be reasonably sure about Burning Mountain, would there be any way we could ever verify if the Zoroastrian fire truly has been burning the whole time? I imagine it's the kind of thing you truly would never be able to be certain about

by Feisty_Heron 35 minutes ago

There would be no way to prove that a fire has been burning for about 1555 years. You're literally taking the word of people who have every incentive to say that it never went out and there's evidence that it did.

by niconitzsche 20 minutes ago

I'm not taking the word of anyone? I was more asking in a scientific context. If there's particular combustion products that degrade at a known rate, etc.

by Feisty_Heron 13 minutes ago