Beck, Alabama

8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1986. It stands in the Andalusia census division. It lies in ZIP code area 36420. It stands on Shady Bend Creek. The Survey maps it on the River Falls quadrangle. It stands 151 feet above sea level.

Beck within Covington County

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 surveys from 8 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.

1953 USGS Andalusia quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
1957 USGS Andalusia quadrangle1:250000
1971 USGS River Falls quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
1986 USGS Andalusia quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings

Fires near this place

54 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 54 fires within 5 miles of Beck between 1994 and 2020, burning about 306 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 7 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 burning	21
Equipment and vehicle use	8
Arson/incendiarism	7
Recreation and ceremony	7
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	6
Natural	3
Railroad operations and maintenance	1
Misuse of fire by a minor	1

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

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
30 September 1994	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
24 September 2011	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	ZELL READY RD, AL
8 August 2007	Debris and open burning	3.0 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
28 August 2011	Arson/incendiarism	15 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	CR 55, AL
24 August 2007	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
2 July 2011	Natural	1.0 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	14744 BROKLIN ROAD, AL
18 July 2006	Equipment and vehicle use	1.5 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
11 July 2019	Natural	under an acre	Alabama Forestry Commission	20190711-3

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Covington County

Storms near this place

6 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Beck in 6 storm reports between 2008 and 2025: 3 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 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.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
April 2011	Tornado (EF1)	Beck	$1,500,000	The tornado continued east from extreme southeastern Conecuh County, Alabama. The tornado snapped or uprooted trees along a 150 yard wide path, producing damage to several homes, outbuildings and structures adjacent to Brooklyn Road. Several homes had significant roof damage with some having trees blown over onto them. The tornado crossed U.S. Highway 29 at County Road 56 then lifted as it moved across the Covington County Arena area producing roof damage to the Kiwanis Building.
February 2008	Tornado (EF1)	Beck	$250,000	The strong EF-2 tornado that began in Escambia county entered Covington county 6.4 miles southwest of Beck over heavily forested areas and moved northeast. The tornado crossed County Road 42 just to the west of Fairfield. The tornado then dissipated just north of Fairfield. In Covington county the tornado was rated a weak EF-1. Significant tree damage occurred in Covington county with structural damage confined to the populated area of Fairfield. Five houses suffered damage and one home was destroyed in Fairfield. No injuries were reported.
December 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Beck	$3,000	Winds estimated at 60 mph downed several trees and caused minor damage to a metal barn.
May 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Beck	-	Trees down on Mill Creek, Grider Mock, and Salem Church Roads. Some of the trees fell on power lines.
June 2023	Heavy Rain	Beck	-	A total of 2.68 inches of rain was recorded over a 6 hour period at Mesonet Station 502 in Dixie, AL.
April 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Beck	-	Power lines and trees downed across AL Highway 137 between US 29 and the Conecuh National Forest Blue Lake area.

Every storm recorded in Covington 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.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Carolina	3.2 miles	8
Fairfield	3.2 miles	8
Montezuma (historical)	5.6 miles	8
Loango	6.1 miles	8
Andalusia	6.5 miles	8
Libertyville	6.6 miles	7
River Falls	7.1 miles	8
Lakeview (historical)	7.7 miles	7

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 Beck	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q22058390	The 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 113776. 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.

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.