BlockBefore

Acton, Alabama

27 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1890 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the Alabaster-Helena census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35244. It stands on Patton Creek. The Survey maps it on the Helena quadrangle. It stands 505 feet above sea level.

Acton within Shelby County

Topographic sheets covering this place

13 surveys from 27 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

48 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 48 fires within 5 miles of Acton between 1994 and 2014, burning about 720 acres in total. None started naturally. 15 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning20
Arson/incendiarism15
Missing data/not specified/undetermined5
Equipment and vehicle use2
Recreation and ceremony2
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
5 September 2002Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
29 September 2000Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
17 September 1998Debris and open burning1.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
10 September 1995Debris and open burning5.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
2 August 1999Railroad operations and maintenance11 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
15 August 1999Arson/incendiarism5.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
13 August 1995Misuse of fire by a minor120 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
21 July 2006Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Shelby County

Mines and quarries near this place

9 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Acton: 3 unknowns, 3 producers, 2 prospects, 1 past producer. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Iron, Clay, Bloating Material, Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Lacon Plant No. 3 PitStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
ParkwoodBloating MaterialProducerSedimentary
Jef 6 Clay ProspectClayProspect
Parkwood MineClayProducer
Helena, Ne OfIronPast ProducerResidual
Johnson ProspectIronProspect
UnnamedIronUnknown
UnnamedIronUnknown
UnnamedIronUnknown

Every working recorded in Shelby County

Storms near this place

14 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Acton in 14 storm reports between 2008 and 2024: 9 flash flood, 4 thunderstorm wind, 1 heavy rain. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
March 2010Flash FloodActon$20,000A period of heavy rain caused Bishop Creek to come out of its banks, and the water came up to the bottom of a few vehicles in the area. Flash flooding in the area later transitioned to long term areal flooding due to additional rainfall.
August 2010Heavy RainActon$15,000Minor but widespread street flooding in parts of Alabaster and Pelham. Highway 52 and Applegate Parkway. Two point five inches of rain was measured in one hour in Alabaster.
April 2011Thunderstorm WindActon$10,000A large tree fell on a home on Trail Ridge Drive.
April 2008Thunderstorm WindActon$2,000Trees and power lines were blown down in the Royal Oaks subdivision.
May 2024Flash FloodActon-Highway 51 and other secondary roads in the Chelsea area were flooded, with some temporarily impassable.
March 2022Flash FloodActon-Several locations along Valleydale Road east of I-65 under water with submerged vehicles and water rescues.
March 2022Flash FloodActon-The Pelham Police Department reported stalled out and flooded vehicles near the intersection of Highway 31 and Amphitheater Road. Several streets flooded and impassable in the same area.
September 2021Flash FloodActon-Six to twelve inches of water flowing across Southgate Drive in Pelham.
August 2019Flash FloodActon-Several reports received across northern Shelby County of several feet of water flowing across roads and submerged vehicles, mainly east of Highway 31 and north of Cahaba Valley Road. The flooded roads include the intersection of Southgate Road and Winslett Road, and Valleydale Road near Veteran's Park.
June 2015Thunderstorm WindActon-A few trees uprooted near the Oak Mountain Amphitheater.
August 2013Flash FloodActon-Several inches of rain fell quickly across portions of the Birmingham metropolitan area, causing many roadways to became impassable and creeks to rise out of their banks. Many roadways across extreme northern Shelby County, in and around Hoover and Riverchase, were impassable. Portions of Valleydale Rd near Spain Park High School were impassable due to water flowing across the roadway.
July 2012Flash FloodActon-Two homes in the Stratford Place Subdivision were flooded by 5 and 13 inches of water on the first floor, respectively.
August 2012Thunderstorm WindActon-Trees were reported down along Chandabrook Drive in Pelham, as well as near the intersection of Chelsea Road and Tara Drive in Chelsea.
June 2011Flash FloodActon-Alabama Highway 119, at the I-65 interchange, became temporarily impassible due to flooding.

Every storm recorded in Shelby County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Cahaba River Estates1.0 miles27
Indian Lake Estates1.2 miles27
Wooddale1.3 miles27
Indian Hills1.6 miles27
Southlake1.8 miles27
Valley Station1.9 miles27
Royal Oaks2.0 miles27
Quail Run2.3 miles27

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on ActonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q19460096The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 112906. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.