Forestdale, Alabama
28 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1889 and the latest in 1993. It stands in the Birmingham census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35214. It lies near Cat Mountain. The Survey maps it on the Adamsville quadrangle. 10,409 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 646 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresForestdale grew from 10,162 to 10,409 between 2010 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 10,162 | |
| 2020 | 10,409 | +247 (+2%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
14 surveys from 28 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.
- 1889 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:125000
- 1892 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:125000
- 1895 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1904 USGS Birmingham Coal District quadrangle1:62500
- 1906 USGS Birmingham Coal District quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1906 USGS Birmingham Special quadrangle1:62500
- 1907 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1953 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1956 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Adamsville quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1975 USGS Adamsville quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Birmingham North quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1993 USGS Adamsville quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
158 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 158 fires within 5 miles of Forestdale between 1994 and 2020, burning about 1,562 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 71 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 | 71 |
| Debris and open burning | 37 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 23 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 9 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 7 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 3 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Natural | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 5.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 6 September 1995 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 7.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 5 September 2003 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | PICKLE DRIVE, AL |
| 29 September 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 29 September 1995 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 28 September 2016 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 2.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20160928-8 |
| 26 September 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 3.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20190926-16 |
| 24 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | NER-20150924-001 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
5 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Forestdale: 3 producers, 1 unknown, 1 prospect. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Clay, Iron, Stone, Crushed/Broken, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Thomas Quarry & Plant | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Unnamed | Iron | Unknown | ||
| Wade Sand & Gravel Co. Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Jef 1 Clay Prospect | Clay | Prospect | ||
| Watkins Number 1 Pit | Clay | Producer |
Storms near this place
6 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Forestdale in 6 storm reports between 1994 and 2003: 5 hail, 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2000 | Tornado (F1) | Forestdale | $150,000 | The tornado first caused damage just east of Minor Parkway and moved northeast along Crumley Chapel Road and through the Crumley Chapel community. The tornado crossed US 78 at the Wal-Mart shopping center and turned on a more easterly track through a residential area of Forestdale. The damage became less severe as the tornado crossed Cherry Lane with only minor tree damage from there to Coalburg Road.Damage along the track was primarily to trees with some minor roof damage to some houses. A number of houses along the path were severely damaged when trees, some quite large, fell on the structures. Beginning: 33 33.650/86 55.378 End: 33 35.341/86 51.737 |
| April 2000 | Hail | Forestdale | $2,000 | no account filed |
| April 1998 | Hail | Forestdale | $2,000 | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Hail | Forestdale | - | Three quarter inch diameter size hail was reported in Forestdale. |
| December 2000 | Hail | Forestdale | - | Dime size hail fell in Forestdale. |
| March 1994 | Hail | Forestdale | - | Trees and power lines reported down in Hueytown. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forest View Estates | 0.7 miles | 28 | |
| Hillview | 0.8 miles | 28 | |
| Crumley Chapel | 0.9 miles | 28 | |
| Sunset Mountain | 1.0 miles | 28 | |
| Merrywood | 1.3 miles | 28 | |
| Westchester Estates | 1.3 miles | 28 | |
| Sandusky | 1.4 miles | 28 | |
| Westwood | 1.9 miles | 28 |
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 Forestdale | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1268815 | 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 118500. 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.













