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Silas, Alabama

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Silas census division. It lies in ZIP code area 36919. It stands on Pine Branch. The Survey maps it on the Silas quadrangle. 377 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 233 feet above sea level.

Silas within Choctaw County

Population over time

2 figures

Silas fell from 452 to 377 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
2010452
2020377-75 (-17%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 12 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

85 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 85 fires within 5 miles of Silas between 1995 and 2018, burning about 419 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 6 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 burning36
Missing data/not specified/undetermined29
Arson/incendiarism6
Recreation and ceremony5
Equipment and vehicle use3
Smoking3
Natural1
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Other causes1

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
7 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undetermined12 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
24 September 1997Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
23 September 2010Debris and open burning5.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
19 September 2013Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreAlabama Forestry CommissionSWR-20130919-001
8 August 2009Debris and open burningunder an acreAlabama Forestry CommissionUS 8, AL
4 August 2002Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
4 August 2001Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
16 August 2007Missing data/not specified/undetermined9.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Choctaw County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Silas: 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Clay. 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
Was 2 Clay ProspectClayProspect

Every working recorded in Choctaw County

Storms near this place

8 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Silas in 8 storm reports between 1996 and 2022: 7 thunderstorm wind, 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
January 2008Thunderstorm WindSilas$12,000no account filed
November 2004Tornado (F0)Silas$5,000A weak tornado briefly touched down just southeast of Silas. The weak tornado damaged several trees.
March 1996Thunderstorm WindSilas$5,000no account filed
January 2000Thunderstorm WindSilas$4,000Trees were blown down along State Highway 17 just southwest of Silas.
April 2014Thunderstorm WindSilas$3,000A large tree was blown down onto a home.
December 2012Thunderstorm WindSilas$3,000Winds estimated at 60 mph blew a few trees down along CR6.
April 2022Thunderstorm WindSilas-High winds downed trees along Highway 84 and areas to the north.
April 2020Thunderstorm WindSilas-A severe thundrestorm wind downed trees onto a house an car.

Every storm recorded in Choctaw 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
Bolinger0.9 miles12
Souwilpa3.8 miles12
Cullomburg4.0 miles11
Flatwood5.3 miles12
Rescueville5.7 miles11
Aquilla5.8 miles12
Barrytown6.4 miles12
Contwell6.6 miles12

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 SilasAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q68418The 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 126840. 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.