BlockCapps, Alabama
8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Abbeville census division. The Survey maps it on the Newville quadrangle.
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 8 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.
- 1953 USGS Dothan quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1954 USGS Dothan quadrangle1:250000
- 1955 USGS Dothan quadrangle1:250000
- 1969 USGS Newville quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1981 USGS Dothan quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
75 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 75 fires within 5 miles of Capps between 1994 and 2020, burning about 350 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 5 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 | 33 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 13 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 9 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 7 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 5 |
| Natural | 4 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 2 |
| Smoking | 2 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 September 1997 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.5 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 29 September 2016 | Debris and open burning | 2.7 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20160929-24 |
| 23 September 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20190923-4 |
| 23 September 2016 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20160923-17 |
| 20 September 1995 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 2 September 1999 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 15 September 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 14 September 1999 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
6 since 2005Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Capps in 6 storm reports between 2005 and 2025: 4 thunderstorm wind, 2 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2015 | Tornado (EF1) | Capps | $1,000,000 | A short EF1 tornado track was surveyed just southwest of Abbeville, AL with max winds estimated at 110 mph. Eight railroad cars were flipped off their tracks along Alabama Highway 173 just south of a pulpwood plant. Otherwise, damage was confined to trees on the remainder of the path. A media article reported that it would cost around $1 million to turn the railroad cars upright again. |
| October 2008 | Tornado (EF0) | Capps | $75,000 | The supercell responsible for the Coffee and Dale county tornadoes spawned its last tornado near the Dale-Henry County line north of State Road 27. It damaged a home. The carport attached to the home was destroyed, with debris scattered over several acres. The tornado lifted a few minutes later. The tornado was rated an EF-0 with winds estimated at 85 mph. |
| August 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Capps | $2,500 | The Henry County EMA reported numerous downed trees on County Road 89 near the Dale County line. |
| March 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Capps | - | A few trees were blown down in the area around County Road 7 and County Road 80. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Capps | - | Trees and power lines were blown down in the Capps area. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Capps | - | A large swing set was blown over near Capps. |
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.
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 115606. 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.