Editing Centralia, Pennsylvania (section)

====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>