BlockBefore

Browntown, Alabama

22 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Section census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35765. The Survey maps it on the Sylvania quadrangle.

Browntown within Jackson County

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 22 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

113 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 113 fires within 5 miles of Browntown between 1994 and 2019, burning about 889 acres in total. None started naturally. 23 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 burning47
Missing data/not specified/undetermined32
Arson/incendiarism23
Equipment and vehicle use5
Recreation and ceremony3
Smoking2
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
8 September 1999Equipment and vehicle use12 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
8 September 1998Debris and open burning50 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
6 September 2016Arson/incendiarism11 acresAlabama Forestry Commission20160906-16
6 September 2005Arson/incendiarism15 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
5 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undetermined18 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
29 September 2014Arson/incendiarism10 acresAlabama Forestry CommissionNOR-20140929-001
28 September 2016Debris and open burning3.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commission20160928-40
25 September 2016Debris and open burning7.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commission20160925-5

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Jackson County

Storms near this place

9 since 2010

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Browntown in 9 storm reports between 2010 and 2025: 8 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. 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
October 2010Tornado (EF2)Browntown$150,000An EF-2 tornado with peak winds up to 115 mph touched down along Highway 40 just east of Highway 71. Significant damage occurred at highway 40 and County Road 22. A couple of sheds were destroyed and numerous large trees were snapped and uprooted. A single-wide manufactured home was lifted 4 to 6 feet off its foundation along County Road 382 north of Highway 40. Additional damage occurred along County Road 134 before the tornado crossed into DeKalb County.
August 2022Thunderstorm WindBrowntown$4,000Trees were reported down in the Dean's Chapel community. Time was estimated by radar.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindBrowntown$1,000A tree was knocked down on CR 382.
September 2025Thunderstorm WindBrowntown$1,000A tree was knocked down about 3 miles east-northeast of Dutton on Highway 40.
August 2023Thunderstorm WindBrowntown$1,000Trees were knocked down over the roadway at the 200 block of CR 59 near Dutton.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindBrowntown$1,000Trees were knocked down along Highway 71 and Highway 40 in Pleasant View.
May 2021Thunderstorm WindBrowntown$200A tree was knocked down across the roadway in the 300 block of CR 176.
May 2020Thunderstorm WindBrowntown$200A tree was knocked down across CR 406.
March 2013Thunderstorm WindBrowntown-Structural damage of a house was reported on County Road 406 near Dutton.

Every storm recorded in Jackson 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
Bowman Crossroads1.4 miles22
Fair View2.7 miles20
Index (historical)3.3 miles23
Morris Mill3.4 miles20
Dutton4.6 miles21
Central4.9 miles20
Gray (historical)5.3 miles23
Pisgah5.5 miles20

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 115024. 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.