Centralia, Pennsylvania, is a near-ghost town in Columbia County famous for an underground coal mine fire that has been burning continuously since May 1962. The fire forced the federal government to relocate nearly all residents in the 1980s and 1990s, leaving an empty grid of streets with a population of fewer than five people.
Started in May 1962, likely from a trash fire in a municipal landfill that ignited an exposed anthracite coal seam. Attempts to dig out or quench the fire failed. The fire moved deep into the labyrinth of abandoned underground coal mines beneath the borough. It spans thousands of acres and is projected to burn for another 250 years or more.
Toxic carbon monoxide gases, dangerous sinkholes, and intense underground heat made the town unsafe. In 1984, Congress funded a $42 million relocation program. Pennsylvania used eminent domain in 1992 to condemn remaining properties, demolish most buildings, and revoke the town's ZIP code.
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Shame about Centralia. It would have been a great place to remove the Somalis.
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