Gorgas, Alabama
23 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Parrish census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35580. It stands on Baker Creek. The Survey maps it on the Goodsprings quadrangle.
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 23 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.
- 1893 USGS Jasper quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1935 USGS Port Birmingham quadrangle1:48000
- 1938 USGS Port Birmingham quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1953 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1956 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:250000
- 1971 USGS Goodsprings quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1975 USGS Goodsprings quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Jasper quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Photographs
1 photograph,Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Fires near this place
257 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 257 fires within 5 miles of Gorgas between 1994 and 2020, burning about 4,582 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 129 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 | 129 |
| Debris and open burning | 70 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 28 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 10 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 6 |
| Smoking | 4 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 3 |
| Natural | 2 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 6 September 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 6 September 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 5 September 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 4 September 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 12 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20190904-5 |
| 3 September 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 3 September 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 3 September 1995 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
13 since 1999Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Gorgas in 13 storm reports between 1999 and 2025: 8 thunderstorm wind, 4 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gorgas | $2,000 | Power lines were blown down along Copeland Ferry Road. |
| March 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gorgas | - | Trees were downed on Tutwiler Rd, on Highway 269 at Gorgas Rd, at Bryan Rd and Ball Park Rd, on Horse Creek Blvd, and on Sipsey Rd. |
| April 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gorgas | - | Boat canopy blown off boat slips and damage to a pier at the Franklin Ferry Marina. |
| June 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gorgas | - | Numerous trees uprooted across the southern portions of Walker County. |
| July 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gorgas | - | Numerous trees uprooted in the vicinity of Highway 269 and Copeland Ferry Road. |
| April 2020 | Tornado (EF1) | Gorgas | - | National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in southeast Walker County and determined that it was consistent with an EF1 tornado, with maximum winds near 110 mph.||The tornado developed just south of the Gorgas Power Plant along the Mulberry Fork near Copeland Bend. The most focused area of damage occurred along Rainwood Lodge Road where numerous trees were snapped and uprooted, some of which fell on homes. In addition, minor roof damage was observed at several residences along the road. The tornado continued northeastward, uprooting several more trees and breaking branches before crossing Interstate 22. Numerous trees were snapped and uprooted near a convenience store on Sharon Blvd, with one tree falling on a nearby manufactured home just before the tornado dissipated. |
| May 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gorgas | - | Several trees uprooted along Copeland Ferry Road. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gorgas | - | Several trees uprooted in the Copeland Ferry Community. |
| July 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gorgas | - | Trees uprooted and power lines downed along Bankhead Road. |
| February 1999 | Hail | Gorgas | - | Dime sized hail was reported in Gorgas. |
| May 2012 | Hail | Gorgas | - | no account filed |
| August 2008 | Hail | Gorgas | - | no account filed |
| February 2004 | Hail | Gorgas | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short Camp | 1.0 miles | 23 | |
| High Level | 1.2 miles | 23 | |
| Pennsylvania Camp (historical) | 1.7 miles | 23 | |
| Goodsprings | 1.8 miles | 23 | |
| Littletons | 2.4 miles | 23 | |
| Drifton | 2.6 miles | 23 | |
| Pumpkin Center | 2.9 miles | 23 | |
| Cedar Lake | 4.0 miles | 17 |
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 Gorgas | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q104878139 | 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 119178. 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.








