Fruitdale, Alabama
12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Fruitdale census division. It lies in ZIP code area 36539. The Survey maps it on the Fruitdale quadrangle. 175 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 246 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresFruitdale fell from 185 to 175 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 | 185 | |
| 2020 | 175 | -10 (-5%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 12 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 Hattiesburg quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Hattiesburg quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1974 USGS Fruitdale quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1984 USGS Citronelle quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1984 USGS Hattiesburg quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
41 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 41 fires within 5 miles of Fruitdale between 1995 and 2019, burning about 1,131 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 13 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 14 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 13 |
| Debris and open burning | 10 |
| Natural | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 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 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 60 acres | Mississippi Forestry Commission | not named |
| 30 August 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 30 acres | Mississippi Forestry Commission | not named |
| 16 August 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.5 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 1 August 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 29 July 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Mississippi Forestry Commission | 54 |
| 5 June 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Mississippi Forestry Commission | MS0 0808-4210605001 |
| 5 June 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 acres | Mississippi Forestry Commission | MS0 0808-4210605003 |
| 30 June 1995 | Debris and open burning | 20 acres | Mississippi Forestry Commission | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
18 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Fruitdale in 18 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 9 hail, 6 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 1 flash flood. 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 2018 | Flash Flood | Fruitdale | $25,000 | Four to seven inches of rain resulted in the flooding of several roads across central and southwest Washington County. Some of the roads flooded include Highway 56 in Chatom, County Road 1 between Fruitdale and Chatom, and Highway 17 near Tibbie and County Road 8 near Deer Park. |
| August 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fruitdale | $12,000 | no account filed |
| April 2003 | Hail | Fruitdale | $10,000 | Golf ball size hail fell from a thunderstorm near Fruitdale. The large hail damaged several vehicles and broke several windshields. The hail also damaged some roofs in the area. |
| December 2002 | Tornado (F0) | Fruitdale | $8,000 | A weak tornado briefly touched down near Fruitdale. Several trees were blown down. |
| June 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fruitdale | $5,000 | Winds estimated at 60 mph blew down numerous trees across the area. |
| March 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fruitdale | $5,000 | High thunderstorm winds blew several trees down in the community. Law enforcement personnel reported no structural damage from the fallen trees. |
| April 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fruitdale | $5,000 | The third severe thunderstorm of the night again moved across the Fruitdale area. Several trees and power lines were blown down across the area. There was not as much damage with this storm as occurred with the first storm that had the large hail. |
| April 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fruitdale | $1,500 | Several trees were blown down along U. S. Highway 45 from Fruitdale to near Deer Park. |
| June 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fruitdale | - | High winds downed trees and powerlines. |
| November 2022 | Tornado (EF3) | Fruitdale | - | The tornado began near Highway 57 in Greene County where several softwood tree trunks were snapped. It continued on an east northeast track producing damage along Nursery Road. The track continued into Washington County Alabama. The tornado crossed Highway 45 and hit Fruitdale High School where windows were damaged along with roof damage to the school and nearby houses. Widespread tree and power line damage was also observed in the Fruitdale area. The damage in Fruitdale is estimated to have been in the high EF-1 range with winds 105-110 mph. The tornado continued northeast and strengthened as it approached Baxter McIllwain Road. This is where the tornado reached peak intensity. Based on the ground survey, a nearly 500 yard swath of major tree damage was observed with countless hardwood and softwood trees destroyed. The EF-3 peak intensity (140 mph) is based on this swath of major tree damage. The tornado continued to track eastward through Tibbie with more significant to major tree damage (EF-2 intensity), along with roof damage observed along Leo and Boyd Willie Parnell Road. The tornado weakened as it moved east across Howardtown Road and dissipated east of Clarke Place Road. The tornado path received many cosmetic changes based on high resolution Planet and Worldview satellite imagery. The peak width was updated to be 700 yards. |
| March 1999 | Hail | Fruitdale | - | Golfball size hail was reported in the community. |
| March 1999 | Hail | Fruitdale | - | Dime to quarter size hail was reported in the community. |
| March 1998 | Hail | Fruitdale | - | Quarter size hail was reported just south of Fruitdale. |
| April 1997 | Hail | Fruitdale | - | Dime size hail was reported along U. S. Highway 45 near Fruitdale. |
| May 2025 | Hail | Fruitdale | - | no account filed |
| March 2005 | Hail | Fruitdale | - | no account filed |
| March 2003 | Hail | Fruitdale | - | no account filed |
| December 2002 | Hail | Fruitdale | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Four Point | 3.7 miles | 11 | |
| Escatawpa | 3.8 miles | 12 | |
| Yellow Pine | 4.5 miles | 12 | |
| Epworth | 5.7 miles | 12 | |
| Vinegar Bend | 6.4 miles | 11 | |
| Tibbie | 8.5 miles | 14 | |
| Burbank | 8.7 miles | 14 | |
| Uniform | 9.2 miles | 14 |
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 Fruitdale | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1273435 | 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 118737. 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.




