Editing Centralia, Pennsylvania (section)

====Town and Residents====

Few homes remain standing in Centralia. Most of the abandoned buildings have been demolished by the [[Columbia County Redevelopment Authority ]] or reclaimed by nature. At a casual glance, the area now appears to be a field with many paved streets running through it. Some areas are being filled with new-growth forest. 

The last remaining house on Locust Avenue was demolished in September 2007. It was notable for a period for the five chimney-like support [[buttress]]es along each of two opposite sides of the house. The house had formerly been supported by a row of adjacent buildings. Another house with similar buttresses was visible from the northern side of the cemetery, just north of the burning, partially subsumed hillside.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.offroaders.com/album/centralia/ghosttown.htm |title=A modern day Ghost Town, Centralia Pennsylvania |access-date=October 10, 2007}}</ref>

Residents John Comarnisky and John Lokitis, Jr., were evicted in May and July 2009, respectively. In May 2009, the remaining residents mounted another legal effort to reverse the 1992 eminent domain claim.<ref>"Few remain as 1962 Pa. coal town fire still burns," Yahoo News, February 5, 2010</ref> In 2010, only five homes remained as state officials tried to vacate the remaining residents and demolish what was left of the town. In March 2011, a federal judge refused to issue an injunction that would have stopped the condemnation.<ref name="Beauge" />

In February 2012, the Commonwealth Court ruled that a declaration of taking could not be re-opened or set aside on the basis that the purpose for the condemnation no longer exists; seven people, including the borough council president, had filed suit claiming the condemnation was no longer needed because the underground fire had moved and the air quality in the borough was the same as that in [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania|Lancaster]].<ref name="Beauge" /> In October 2013, the remaining residents settled their lawsuit, receiving $218,000 in compensation for the value of their homes, along with $131,500 to settle additional claims, and the right to stay in their homes for the rest of their lives.<ref name=agreement/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/pa-residents-living-above-mine-200344503.html |title=Pa. residents living above mine fire free to stay |date=October 31, 2013 |last=Rubinkam |first=Michael |publisher=Associated Press |via=Yahoo Finance |access-date=November 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305044446/https://finance.yahoo.com/news/pa-residents-living-above-mine-200344503.html |archive-date=March 5, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Image:Cent 46 b.jpg|thumb|A [[berm]] blocks entry to the abandoned section of Route 61]]
[[File:A421, Centralia, Pennsylvania, USA, Route 61, abandoned section above coal mine fire, 2016 b.jpg|thumb]]
[[File:Graffiti Highway - Centralia, Pennsylvania (2019) b.jpg|thumb|right|Drone photo of the former "Graffiti Highway" near Centralia in 2019, before it was mostly buried by several hundred access-denial [[berm]]s <!-- confirm: https://maps.app.goo.gl/dH4XBpKymU4WKFJ79 --> ]]