Brilliant, Alabama
11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1956 and the latest in 1980. It stands in the Brilliant census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35548. It stands on Bostick Creek. The Survey maps it on the Brilliant quadrangle. 845 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 620 feet above sea level.
Population over time
3 figuresBrilliant fell from 889 to 845 between 2000 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 889 | |
| 2010 | 900 | +11 (+1%) |
| 2020 | 845 | -55 (-6%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 11 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1956 USGS Gadsden quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Gadsden quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Gadsden quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1963 USGS Gadsden quadrangle1:250000
- 1967 USGS Brilliant quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1980 USGS Haleyville quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
105 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 105 fires within 5 miles of Brilliant between 1994 and 2019, burning about 922 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 36 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 |
|---|---|
| Arson/incendiarism | 36 |
| Debris and open burning | 31 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 10 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 5 |
| Natural | 3 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 1 |
| Other causes | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 3.5 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 5 September 1995 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 5.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 4 September 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 6.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20180904-3 |
| 23 September 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | NOR-20140923-001 |
| 20 September 2019 | Debris and open burning | 1.5 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20190920-9 |
| 2 September 2011 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 1671 CENTER CHURCH RD , AL |
| 2 September 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 18 September 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 5.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | NOR-20150918-001 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Brilliant: 1 plant. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tenn. River Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Plant |
Storms near this place
16 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Brilliant in 16 storm reports between 1995 and 2023: 9 thunderstorm wind, 5 hail, 1 funnel cloud, 1 lightning. 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 1998 | Hail | Brilliant | $10,000 | Golf ball size hail was reported in Brilliant. |
| August 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brilliant | $6,000 | Several power lines were blown down in Brilliant. |
| May 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brilliant | $4,000 | Trees were blown down along SR 129 just north of Brilliant. |
| July 2004 | Lightning | Brilliant | $4,000 | A few trees were struck by lightning and subsequently knocked down. The trees were knocked down on Main Street in Brilliant and along CR 56 in the Shottsville community. |
| July 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brilliant | $3,000 | About ten trees were reported down along Highway 10 in the southwest part of Marion County. Hail about the size of dimes was reported in Hamilton. Several trees were down on Highway 44 between Twin and Brilliant. A funnel cloud was reported near Whitehouse about 15 miles east of Hamilton. |
| February 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brilliant | $2,000 | Several trees were blown down near Brilliant. |
| August 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brilliant | $2,000 | Several trees were blown down on CR 36 near Brilliant. |
| August 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brilliant | - | Trees and power lines down along Highways 44 and 129 on the southwest side of Brilliant. |
| August 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brilliant | - | Multiple trees uprooted in the Brilliant area. |
| March 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brilliant | - | Numerous trees uprooted along Highway 129 south of the town of Brilliant. |
| April 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brilliant | - | Several trees uprooted along Brookside Road in the town of Brilliant. |
| May 2006 | Hail | Brilliant | - | Reported along SR 129 just north of old US 78. |
| January 1999 | Funnel Cloud | Brilliant | - | A funnel cloud was reported in eastern Marion County near the Winston County line. |
| April 2006 | Hail | Brilliant | - | no account filed |
| April 2006 | Hail | Brilliant | - | no account filed |
| April 2000 | Hail | Brilliant | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold Mine | 1.2 miles | 12 | |
| Pull Tight | 1.4 miles | 11 | |
| Brookside | 1.8 miles | 12 | |
| Tucker | 3.8 miles | 11 | |
| Rock City | 3.9 miles | 11 | |
| Piney Grove | 4.2 miles | 12 | |
| New Hope | 4.4 miles | 11 | |
| Sunny Home | 5.1 miles | 12 |
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 Brilliant | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q68058 | 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 114918. 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.





