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=20
Few remain as 1962 Pa. coal town fire still burns
CENTRALIA, Pa. =E2=80=93 Standing before the wreckage of his = bulldozed home, John=20 Lokitis Jr. felt sick to his stomach, certain that a terrible mistake = had been=20 made.
He'd fought for years to stay in the house. It was one of the few = left=20 standing in the moonscape of Centralia, a once-proud coal town whose = population=20 fled an underground mine fire that began in 1962 and continues to = burn.
But the state had ordered Lokitis to vacate, leaving the = fourth-generation=20 Centralian little choice but to say goodbye =E2=80=94 to the house, and = to what's left=20 of the town he loved.
"I never had any desire to move," said Lokitis, 39. "It was my = home."
After years of delay, state officials are now trying to complete the=20 demolition of Centralia, a borough in the mountains of northeastern = Pennsylvania=20 that all but ceased to exist in the 1980s after the mine fire spread = beneath=20 homes and businesses, threatening residents with poisonous gases and = dangerous=20 sinkholes.
More than 1,000 people moved out, and 500 structures were razed under = a $42=20 million federal relocation program.
But dozens of holdouts, Lokitis included, refused to go =E2=80=94 = even after their=20 houses were seized through eminent domain in the early 1990s. They said = the fire=20 posed little danger to their part of town, accused government officials = and=20 mining companies of a plot to grab the mineral rights and vowed to stay = put.=20 State and local officials had little stomach to oust the diehards, who = squatted=20 tax- and rent-free in houses they no longer owned.
Steve Fishman, attorney for the state Department of Community and = Economic=20 Development, said "benign neglect" on the part of state and local = officials=20 allowed the residents to stay for so long.
No more.
Fishman told The Associated Press that the state is moving as quickly = as=20 possible to take possession of the remaining homes and get them knocked=20 down.
"Everyone agreed that we needed to move this along," he said.
In 2006, there were 16 properties left standing. A year ago, the town = was=20 down to 11. Now there are five houses occupied with fewer than a dozen=20 holdouts.
Centralia appears to be entering its final days.
The remaining holdouts, weary after decades of media scrutiny, rarely = give=20 interviews. But the town's 86-year-old mayor, Carl Womer, said he doubts = he'll=20 have to go. Indeed, Lokitis and others believe that elderly residents = will be=20 allowed to live out their final years in Centralia =E2=80=94 even after a Columbia County judge decides next month how = much they=20 should be paid for their homes.
"Nothing's happened. We're still here," said Womer, whose wife, = Helen, who=20 died in 2001, was an implacable foe of relocation. "No one's told us to=20 move."
Like Womer, resident John Lokitis Sr., 68, father of Lokitis Jr., was = polite=20 but short. "Why worry about it? When it comes, it comes. I don't give a = rat's=20 ass," he said, shutting the door.
Those who remain in Centralia like to keep up appearances. In = mid-January,=20 Christmas decorations still adorned the street lamps, a large manger = scene=20 occupied a corner of the main intersection and a 2010 calendar hung in = the empty=20 borough building. But the holdouts are fighting a losing battle. The = building's=20 wooden facade is in dire need of a paint job; in the Odd Fellows = Cemetery,=20 vandals recently knocked over dozens of tombstones. Nature has reclaimed = parts=20 of the town.
In reality, Centralia is already a memory =E2=80=94 an intact street = grid with hardly=20 anything on it. All the familiar places that define a town =E2=80=94 = churches,=20 businesses, schools, homes =E2=80=94 are long gone.=20
A hand-lettered sign tacked to a tree near Womer's home directs = tourists to a=20 rocky outcropping off the main street where opaque clouds of steam rise = from the=20 ground.=20
"It was a real community, and people loved the place," said author = and=20 journalist Dave DeKok, who has been writing about Centralia for 30 years = and=20 recently published "Fire=20 Underground," an updated version of his 1986 book on the town. = "People=20 lived their entire lives in that town and would have been quite happy to = get rid=20 of the mine fire and keep on living there."=20
With swifter action, DeKok said, that might have been Centralia's destiny.=20
The fire began at the town dump and ignited an exposed coal vein. It =
could=20
have been extinguished for thousands of dollars then, but a series of=20
bureaucratic half-measures and a lack of funding allowed the fire to =
grow into a=20
voracious monster =E2=80=94 feeding on millions of tons of slow-burning =
At first, most Centralians ignored the fire. Some denied its =
existence,=20
choosing to disregard the threat.=20
That changed in the 1970s, when carbon monoxide began entering homes =
and=20
sickening people. The beginning of the end came in 1981, when a cave-in =
sucked a=20
12-year-old boy into a hot, gaseous void, nearly killing him. The town =
divided=20
into two warring camps, one in favor of relocation and one opposed.=20
Finally, in 1983, the federal government appropriated $42 million to =
acquire=20
and demolish every building in Centralia. Nearly everyone participated =
in the=20
voluntary buyouts; by 1990, Census figures showed only 63 people =
remaining.=20
Two years later, Gov. Robert Casey decided to shut the town, saying =
the fire=20
had become too dangerous. The holdouts fought condemnation, blocking =
appraisers=20
from entering their homes. The legal process eventually ground to a =
halt.=20
Until recently, Lokitis Jr., who works a civilian job with the state =
police=20
in Harrisburg, had been one of Centralia's most vocal defenders =
=E2=80=94 star of a 2007=20
documentary on Centralia. He expressed hope that it could stage a =
comeback,=20
claiming the fire had gone out or moved away.=20
State officials say the fire continues to burn uncontrolled and could =
for=20
hundreds of years, until it runs out of fuel. One of their biggest =
concerns is=20
the danger to tourists who often cluster around steam vents on unstable =
ground.=20
While Lokitis felt he was in no danger, he had little recourse than =
to move=20
from his late grandfather's two-story row home on West Park Street when an order to vacate =
arrived, one=20
of two such notices sent last year.=20
Now living a few miles away, he tacked a sign on the front porch of =
the old=20
homestead. "REQUIESCAT IN PACE" =E2=80=94 rest in peace, it said. "SORRY =
POP."=20
He couldn't bear to watch the home get knocked down a few weeks =
before "It was part of my life for all 39 years, that house," he said. "It =
was=20
difficult to leave it and difficult to see it demolished."=20
Difficult, too, to give up his dream of Centralia's rebirth.=20
"I'd always hoped the town would come back and be rebuilt," Lokitis =
said,=20
"but I guess that's never going to happen."
Copyright =C2=A9 2010 Yahoo! Inc. All rights =
reserved.
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