PA. RESIDENTS LIVING ABOVE MINE FIRE FREE TO STAY
“The few remaining residents of a Pennsylvania coal town that was largely razed in the 1980s because of an underground mine fire that still burns today have gotten their wish — to be left alone, free to live out their lives there.
A lengthy battle over eminent domain culminated this week when eight residents of Centralia settled their lawsuit against state officials who had been trying to evict them from their condemned homes. The settlement, notice of which was filed in U.S. District Court, allows the residents to stay for as long as they live. It also includes a cash payout of $349,500.
“Everybody got what we wanted, and everybody’s happy now,” resident Tom Hynoski, 52, said Thursday.
The mine fire was ignited in 1962 and eventually spread to the vast network of mines beneath homes and businesses, threatening residents with poisonous gases and dangerous sinkholes. By the end of the 1980s, more than 1,000 people had moved and 500 structures been demolished under a $42 million federal relocation program.”
Rubinkam, Michael. AP News 31 October 2013.