Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Centralia mine fire started in May 1962 when an unsealed landfill pit allowed fire to enter abandoned coal mines beneath the town. The fire began after firefighters set a dump on fire on the 27th of May 1962 and failed to fully extinguish it, allowing flames to penetrate the coal seam.
As of the 2020 census, there were five people residing in Centralia, making it the least-populated municipality in Pennsylvania. The population plummeted from 1,000 residents in 1980 to just five people in 2020 due to government relocation efforts and the ongoing fire.
In April 2020, the property owners covered the abandoned section of Pennsylvania Route 61 with several hundred mounds of dirt to end decades of fascination with the desolate stretch. This action buried the graffiti under access-denial berms, effectively blocking off the area permanently to vehicular traffic.
The U.S. Postal Service discontinued Centralia's ZIP code 17927 in 2002 after the state condemned all real estate and the population dwindled to only 16 homes. The fire had consumed the town's infrastructure, forcing the state to take legal action to reclaim the property.
Alexander Rae was a mining engineer who moved his family to Centralia and laid out streets and lots for development before naming the town Centreville. He was murdered in his buggy by members of the Molly Maguires on the 17th of October 1868 during a trip between Centralia and Mount Carmel.
The underground fire in Centralia is expected to burn for another 250 years as of 2006 reports. The fire continues to spread along four fronts beneath some 4 square miles, creating a surreal landscape of smoke and steam.