Claim: Centralia, Pennsylvania was claimed by the government through conscription.

Centralia is a borough and near-ghost town in Columbia County , Pennsylvania , United States . Its population has dwindled from more than 1,000 residents in 1980 to only 10 in 2010 -- a result of the coal mine fire which has been burning beneath the borough since 1962 . Centralia , which is part of the Bloomsburg -- Berwick metropolitan area , is the least-populated municipality in Pennsylvania . It is completely surrounded by Conyngham Township .   All real estate in the borough was claimed under eminent domain in 1992 and therein condemned by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania . Centralia 's ZIP code was discontinued by the Postal Service in 2002 . State and local officials reached an agreement with the seven remaining residents on October 29 , 2013 , allowing them to live out their lives there , after which the rights to their houses will be taken through eminent domain .