BlockBefore

Safford, Alabama

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1986. It stands in the Safford census division. It lies in ZIP code area 36773. It stands on English Creek. The Survey maps it on the Safford quadrangle. It stands 230 feet above sea level.

Safford within Dallas County

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 10 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

31 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 31 fires within 5 miles of Safford between 1994 and 2020, burning about 420 acres in total. None started naturally. 3 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 burning12
Missing data/not specified/undetermined6
Arson/incendiarism3
Power generation/transmission/distribution3
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Recreation and ceremony2
Smoking2
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
28 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.8 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
21 September 2005Debris and open burning22 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
21 September 2005Debris and open burning4.1 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
19 September 2019Debris and open burning6.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commission20190919-10
13 September 1997Debris and open burning1.6 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
10 August 2010Power generation/transmission/distribution8.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
2 July 2000Smoking5.5 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
24 June 2000Debris and open burning1.2 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Dallas County

Storms near this place

13 since 2001

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Safford in 13 storm reports between 2001 and 2022: 7 hail, 3 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
November 2004Tornado (F0)Safford$18,000no account filed
September 2009Flash FloodSafford$10,000A portion of CR-115, near the Safford community, was washed out do to heavy rainfall.
February 2001Thunderstorm WindSafford$3,000A few buildings in Safford had minor to moderate roof damage. Several trees were blown down or snapped off in southwestern Dallas County.
October 2001Thunderstorm WindSafford$1,000A few trees were blown down in rural southwest Dallas county.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindSafford$500A few trees were blown down in far western Dallas County.
March 2022Tornado (EF0)Safford-National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in western Dallas County and determined that it was consistent with an EF0 tornado, with maximum winds near 85 mph. A short-lived tornado touched down near the intersection of Alabama Highway 22 and County Road 113. Sporadic downed limbs and uprooted trees were noted at this location. The tornado tracked northeast and destroyed a barn as it crossed Alabama Highway 22. Debris was thrown several hundred yards downstream to the edge of a forested area. The tornado dissipated once it reached County Road 109.
April 2021HailSafford-Quarter size hail reported in the town of Safford.
March 2005HailSafford-Quarter size hail fell in northwestern Dallas County. The hail was observed from near SR 5 to near Marion Junction. The hail may have been larger but much of the hail fell across rural parts of the county.
April 2003HailSafford-Hail up to the size of quarters was reported with this supercell as it traversed mostly rural areas of Dallas County. The hail may have been larger but was not observed.
February 2001HailSafford-Nickel size hail fell just north of Safford.
February 2009HailSafford-no account filed
February 2009HailSafford-no account filed
February 2008HailSafford-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Dallas 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
Blalock1.6 miles11
Donald2.9 miles9
Westbrook3.2 miles10
Sedgefield3.4 miles9
Central Mills3.7 miles11
Brookwood3.7 miles10
Martin3.9 miles10
Eleanor4.5 miles10

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 SaffordAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q7398719The 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 155224. 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.