BlockBefore

Branchville, Alabama

19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1889 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Springville census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35120. It lies near Stovall Mountain. The Survey maps it on the Odenville quadrangle. 993 people lived here at the 2007 count.

Branchville within St. Clair County

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 19 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

157 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 157 fires within 5 miles of Branchville between 1994 and 2020, burning about 2,049 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 42 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 burning71
Arson/incendiarism42
Missing data/not specified/undetermined12
Recreation and ceremony11
Smoking6
Railroad operations and maintenance5
Equipment and vehicle use4
Natural3
Other causes1
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Fireworks1

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
9 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commission265 GRAY FOX RD., AL
9 September 1999Natural59 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
9 September 1995Debris and open burning2.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
7 September 1997Debris and open burning1.5 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
6 September 1995Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
5 September 1998Smoking5.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
5 September 1998Equipment and vehicle use5.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
5 September 1997Arson/incendiarism12 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in St. Clair County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 11 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 11 workings within 5 miles of Branchville: 4 unknowns, 3 occurrences, 3 prospects, 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Iron, Copper, Limestone, General. 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
Odenville Copper ProspectCopper, Limestone, GeneralOccurrence1925
Jump-Off RockIronUnknown
OdenvilleIronUnknown
UnnamedIronUnknown
UnnamedIronUnknown
Unnamed MineIronPast Producer
Unnamed ProspectIronOccurrence
Unnamed ProspectIronProspect
Unnamed ProspectIronOccurrence
Unnamed ProspectIronProspect

Every working recorded in St. Clair County

Storms near this place

7 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Branchville in 7 storm reports between 1994 and 2023: 3 hail, 2 tornado, 2 thunderstorm wind. The reports record 5 injuries. 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
April 2011Tornado (EF2)Branchville5 hurt, $865,000A tornado developed along a Quasi-Linear Convective System. It touched down in central St Clair County, near Odenville. The tornado touched down in a field southwest of the intersection of AL Hwy 174 and Blair Farms Rd. As it moved northeast, it quickly strengthened to an EF2 rating with winds of 120 mph and caused significant damage to two multi-story brick homes, along AL Hwy 174. One house lost a large portion of its roof deck material. The well built detached garage of the other house was shifted off its foundation, with the intact roof landing and squashing the remaining structure. The tornado continued northeast and tracked parallel to US Hwy 411, before it lifted near the intersection of Pleasant Valley Road and Cedar Ln, where a few trees were blown down.
April 1994Tornado (F0)Branchville$500,000An off-duty police officer and two citizens saw a funnel cloud dip down and go back into the cloud at 1724 CST. The damaging winds associated with the tornado produced damage at the Pecan Grove Trailer Park off Highway 411 in Branchville. Twelve mobile homes and three houses were damaged and about 50 trees were uprooted or snapped off.
February 1999Thunderstorm WindBranchville$5,000Several trees and power lines were blown down.
April 2005HailBranchville$1,000Nickel size hail was reported in the Branchville area.
August 2000Thunderstorm WindBranchville$1,000A few trees were blown down in and around the city of Branchville.
May 2023HailBranchville-no account filed
June 2008HailBranchville-no account filed

Every storm recorded in St. Clair 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
Havilah Hills Estates1.2 miles19
Odenville1.6 miles19
Crockertown2.1 miles19
Hardwick2.6 miles21
Copper Springs2.8 miles19
Green Acres Estates3.1 miles19
Hill Number 13.8 miles19
Margaret4.1 miles19

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 BranchvilleAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q67866The 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 164576. 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.