Editing Centralia, Pennsylvania (section)

=== Mine fire ===
{{Main|Centralia mine fire}}
[[Image:Old Mine Fire 1969.jpg|thumb|right|A small part of the Centralia mine fire as it appeared after being exposed during an excavation in 1969]]

====Triggers====
Analysts disagree about the specific cause of the Centralia fire. David Dekok, author of ''Fire Underground: The Ongoing Tragedy of the Centralia Mine Fire'', concluded that it started with an attempt to clean up the town landfill. In May 1962, the Centralia Borough Council hired five members of the volunteer fire company to clean up the town landfill, located in an abandoned [[surface mining|strip-mine pit]] next to the [[Independent Order of Odd Fellows|Odd Fellows]] Cemetery just outside the borough limits. This had been done prior to [[Memorial Day]] in previous years, when the landfill was in a different location.

On May 27, 1962, the firefighters, as they had in the past, set the dump on fire and let it burn for some time. Unlike in previous years, however, the fire was not fully extinguished. An unsealed opening in the pit allowed the fire to enter the labyrinth of abandoned coal mines beneath Centralia.<ref>David Dekok, ''Unseen Danger'' and successor edition, ''Fire Underground: The Ongoing Tragedy of the Centralia Mine Fire''</ref>{{page needed|date=February 2017}}

By contrast, other sources<ref>{{cite web|last=Quigley|first=Joan|title=''The Day the Earth Caved In'' |url=http://www.thedaytheearthcavedin.com/|access-date=March 13, 2020|page=8|format=www|year=2007}}</ref> claim that the fire had started the previous day, when a trash hauler dumped hot ash or coal discarded from coal burners into the open trash pit. The author of ''The Day the Earth Caved In'' noted that borough council minutes from June 4, 1962, referred to two fires at the dump and that five firefighters had submitted bills for "fighting the fire at the landfill area." The borough, by law, was responsible for installing a fire-resistant clay barrier between each layer of the landfill,<ref>{{cite web|title=Abandoned Mines in Pennsylvania|url=http://www.mbm-law.net/newsletter-articles/subsidence-abandoned-mines-in-pennsylvania/1224/|website=Maiello, Brungo & Maiello|date=February 9, 2007|access-date=December 15, 2015}}</ref> but fell behind schedule, leaving the barrier incomplete. This allowed the hot coals to penetrate the coal seam underneath the pit and start the subsequent subterranean fire.<ref name="Quigley">{{cite book |last=Quigley |first=Joan |title=The Day the Earth Caved In: An American Mining Tragedy |location=New York |publisher=Random House |year=2007 |url=https://archive.org/details/dayearthcavedina00quig |isbn=978-1-4000-6180-8 |url-access=registration }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Quigley |first=Joan |title=Chapter Notes to ''The Day the Earth Caved In'' |url=http://www.thedaytheearthcavedin.com/chapter_notes_2007.doc |access-date=March 13, 2012 |page=8 |format=DOC |year=2007}}</ref>

Another theory proposes that the Bast Colliery fire of 1932 was never fully extinguished, and that fire reached the landfill area by 1962; however, a miner named Frank Jurgill Sr. disputes that theory. Jurgill claims he operated a bootleg mine with his brother near the landfill from 1960 to 1962. If the Bast Colliery fire had not been extinguished, the brothers would likely have been overcome or killed by the noxious gases via many interconnected tunnels in the area.<ref name=":0"/>

====Immediate effects====
In 1979, locals became aware of the scale of the problem when a [[Filling station|gas-station]] owner, then-mayor John Coddington, inserted a dipstick into one of his underground tanks to check the fuel level. When he withdrew it, it seemed hot. He lowered a thermometer into the tank on a string and was shocked to discover that the temperature of the gasoline in the tank was {{Convert|172|°F|°C|1|lk=on}}.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/atlas_obscura/2014/06/04/centralia_a_town_in_pennsylvania_destroyed_by_a_mine_fire.html |title=How an Underground Fire Destroyed an Entire Town |journal=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |access-date=August 2, 2014 |last=Morton |first=Ella|date=June 4, 2014 }}</ref>

Statewide attention to the fire began to increase, culminating on February 14, 1981, when a 12-year-old resident named Todd Domboski fell into a [[sinkhole]], {{convert|4|ft|m}} wide by {{Convert|150|ft|m}} deep, that suddenly opened beneath his feet in his grandmother’s backyard, but saved himself by grabbing onto a tree root. His cousin, 14-year-old Eric Wolfgang, pulled Domboski out of the hole to safety. The plume of hot steam billowing from the hole was tested and found to contain a lethal level of [[carbon monoxide]].<ref name="csmonitor">{{cite news |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Bright-Green/2010/0205/Centralia-Pa.-How-an-underground-coal-fire-erased-a-town |title=Centralia, Pa.: How an underground coal fire erased a town |work=The Christian Science Monitor |access-date=August 5, 2013 |first=Eoin |last=O'Carroll}}</ref> At the time of the sinkhole collapse, U.S. Rep. [[James Nelligan]] and Governor [[Dick Thornburgh]] were visiting the town to assess the area.<ref>{{cite news |title=Dozen Families Must Flee Mine Fire Area |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81537938/nelligan-centralia/ |newspaper=York Daily Record |date=February 17, 1981 |page=3 |access-date=July 16, 2021}}</ref>

Although there was physical, visible evidence of the fire, residents of Centralia were bitterly divided over the question of whether or not the fire posed a direct threat to the town. In ''The Real Disaster is Above Ground,'' Steve Kroll-Smith and Steve Couch identified at least six community groups, each organized around varying interpretations of the amount and kind of risk posed by the fire. In 1983, the [[U.S. Congress]] allocated more than $42 million for relocation efforts.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Amos|first1=Owen|title=The church that thrives in a ghost town|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42781736|access-date=January 25, 2018|work=BBC News|date=January 25, 2018}}</ref> Nearly all of the residents accepted the government's buyout offers. More than 1,000 people moved out of the town and 500 structures were demolished. By 1990, the census recorded 63 remaining residents.<ref name="Rubinkam" />

In 1992, Pennsylvania governor [[Robert P. Casey|Bob Casey]] invoked [[eminent domain]] on all property in the borough, condemning all the buildings within. A subsequent legal effort by residents to overturn the action failed. In 2002, the [[U.S. Postal Service]] discontinued Centralia's ZIP code, 17927.<ref name="Krajick"/><ref name="Currie">{{cite news |last=Currie |first=Tyler |date=April 2, 2003 |title=Zip Code 00000 |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2003/04/02/AR2005033108150.html |access-date=December 19, 2009}}</ref> Only 16 homes were still standing by 2006, which was reduced to eleven by 2009 when Governor [[Ed Rendell]] began the formal eviction of the remaining Centralia residents. Only five homes remained by 2010.<ref name="Rubinkam" />

The Centralia mine fire extended beneath the village of [[Byrnesville, Pennsylvania|Byrnesville]], a short distance to the south, and required it also to be abandoned.<ref>{{cite news |last=Holmes |first=Kristin E. |url=http://articles.philly.com/2008-10-21/news/25263632_1_shrine-mine-fire-byrnesville |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140204071259/http://articles.philly.com/2008-10-21/news/25263632_1_shrine-mine-fire-byrnesville |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 4, 2014 |title=Minding a legacy of faith: In an empty town, a shrine still shines |publisher=Philly.com |date=October 21, 2008}}</ref>