Is it true that a coal mine fire has been burning in Centralia, PA since 1962?”
Centralia is a borough and ghost town in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, United States. Its population has dwindled from over 1,000 residents in 1981 to 12 in 2005[1] and 9 in 2007,[2] as a result of a mine fire burning beneath the borough since 1962. Centralia is now the least-populous municipality in Pennsylvania, with four fewer residents than the borough of S.N.P.J. Centralia is part of the Bloomsburg–Berwick Micropolitan Statistical Area. All properties in the borough were claimed under eminent domain by the state of Pennsylvania in 1992 (and all buildings therein were condemned), and Centralia’s ZIP code was revoked by the Post Office in 2002.[1] However, a few residents continue to reside there in spite of a failed lawsuit to reverse the eminent domain claim.
Centralia was small town with around 3000 residents (including unincorporated areas nearby). The small but happy town was one of the major anthracite coal capitals in Columbia County, Pennsylvania. Coal mining continued till 1960s and then Strip and open-pit mining replaced the coal companies which went out of business. What the people of Centralia were unaware of, was a fire which took place in a coal vein underneath the town on 1962. No one had a clue about the world beneath them which was going hotter than planet Mercury (exceeding 1,000 degrees).
