Centralia is a ghost town and the region in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, United States, and part of the Bloomsburg-Berwick micropolitan area. Its population has shrunk from more than 1,000 residents in 1981 to 12 in 2005, nine in 2007, and 10 in 2010, as a result of the mine fire burning under the borough since 1962.
Only indication of fire, which underlies about 400 acres (1.6 km ²) spread over four areas, low round metal steam vents in the south of the borough and several signs warning of underground fire, unstable ground, and carbon monoxide. Additional smoke and steam can be seen coming from the abandoned Pennsylvania, Route 61 area just behind the hilltop cemetery, and other cracks in the ground are scattered around the area. Very few houses remained standing in Centralia, mostly abandoned buildings have been destroyed by man or nature.
