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Midfield, Alabama

24 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1890 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Birmingham census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35228. It stands on Nabors Branch. The Survey maps it on the Bessemer quadrangle. 5,211 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 512 feet above sea level.

Midfield within Jefferson County

Population over time

2 figures

Midfield fell from 5,365 to 5,211 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.

YearPeople Change
20105,365
20205,211-154 (-3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 surveys from 24 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

92 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 92 fires within 5 miles of Midfield between 1993 and 2018, burning about 593 acres in total. None started naturally. 45 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/incendiarism45
Debris and open burning24
Missing data/not specified/undetermined11
Recreation and ceremony4
Misuse of fire by a minor4
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Equipment and vehicle use2

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
29 September 1995Debris and open burning1.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
28 September 2016Misuse of fire by a minor2.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commission20160928-8
18 September 1996Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
15 September 1995Debris and open burning1.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
4 August 1997Arson/incendiarismunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
30 August 2000Arson/incendiarism8.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
23 August 2011Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresAlabama Forestry CommissionETHERIDGE DR, AL
22 August 2011Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreAlabama Forestry CommissionCR 7, AL

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Jefferson County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 40 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 40 workings within 5 miles of Midfield: 25 past producers, 6 unknowns, 4 producers, 3 occurrences. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Iron, Clay, Stone, 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Alpha Portland Cement Company PlantStonePlant
Wade Sand & Gravel Co. PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Shannon PitClayProducer
Watkins Number 1 PitClayProducer
Birmingham Red Ore Dist.IronProducer
Birmingham Red Ore Mines DistrictIronPast Producer1864, 1972
Green Spring MineIronPast Producer
IronatonIronUnknown
IronatonIronUnknown
Ishkooda MinesIronPast Producer1863, 1969

Every working recorded in Jefferson County

Storms near this place

10 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Midfield in 10 storm reports between 1997 and 2020: 5 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 funnel cloud, 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2010Flash FloodMidfield$20,000Several areas in the southwestern suburbs of Birmingham became flooded due to heavy rain. The hardest hit areas included Parker Spring Street and Bessemer Street in Brighton, 9th Avenue at AL-150 and Dartmouth Avenue in Bessemer, and Perimeter Way at McCalla Road in McCalla. One car became submerged in Brighton.
April 2001HailMidfield$8,000no account filed
January 1997HailMidfield$5,000no account filed
April 2000HailMidfield$2,000no account filed
July 2020Thunderstorm WindMidfield-Several trees uprooted in the city of Midfield.
May 2018Thunderstorm WindMidfield-Several trees uprooted in the city of Midfield.
December 2015Tornado (EF2)Midfield-NWS meteorologists determined a tornado touched down in the city of Midfield with a fairly brief, but wide damage path, with a core of concentrated significant damage. Initial damage was found near Cairo Avenue, where trees were toppled and snapped. This damage was rated at EF-1 intensity. The tornado then tracked northeast, where EF-2 damage occurred along Jefferson Avenue SW and Park Avenue SW, bounded by 50th Street to the south and 49th Street to the north. Here, residential homes were heavily damaged, with two homes flattened. Many trees were also snapped and uprooted. A rapid decline in intensity was observed as the tornado moved northeast, with EF-1 and EF-0 damage consisting of roof damage and snapped/uprooted trees stretching from Grasselli Avenue SW to Carver Avenue SW and 45th Street SW. There were a total of about 50 homes impacted, with approximately 15 that were uninhabitable.
March 2007Funnel CloudMidfield-Reported on Interstate 20.
May 2003HailMidfield-Penny size hail was observed in Midfield. Nickel size hail fell in Shannon Valley.
March 2000HailMidfield-Dime size hail fell around Midfield.

Every storm recorded in Jefferson 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
Belwood0.5 miles24
Walnut Grove0.8 miles24
Phoenixville0.9 miles24
Grasselli0.9 miles24
Fairfield Village1.0 miles24
Hillman Gardens1.0 miles24
Green Acres1.0 miles24
Forest Hills1.1 miles24

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 MidfieldAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q79243The 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 122701. 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.