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Sims Chapel, Alabama

15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1943 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the McIntosh census division. It lies in ZIP code area 36553. It stands on Odom Branch. The Survey maps it on the Sims Chapel quadrangle. 145 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 85 feet above sea level.

Sims Chapel within Washington County

Population over time

2 figures

Sims Chapel fell from 153 to 145 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
2010153
2020145-8 (-5%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 15 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

468 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 468 fires within 5 miles of Sims Chapel between 1994 and 2020, burning about 9,639 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 192 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/incendiarism192
Debris and open burning128
Missing data/not specified/undetermined107
Recreation and ceremony22
Equipment and vehicle use8
Smoking7
Natural2
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 2006Debris and open burning5.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
7 September 2004Arson/incendiarism25 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
4 September 2015Arson/incendiarism138 acresAlabama Forestry CommissionSWR-20150904-001
30 September 2010Arson/incendiarismunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
30 September 2008Debris and open burning17 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
30 September 2003Debris and open burning27 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
30 September 1997Equipment and vehicle use5.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
30 September 1995Debris and open burning65 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Washington 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 Sims Chapel: 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 9 Clay ProspectClayProspect

Every working recorded in Washington County

Storms near this place

2 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sims Chapel in 2 storm reports between 1996 and 2019: 1 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
March 2019Tornado (EF1)Sims Chapel$50,000The tornado began near John Johnston Road and continued east, adjacent to Fairford Road. The tornado lifted roughly just south of Price Rivers Road and just east of Fairford Road. The tornado produced tree damage along its path. snapping both softwood and hardwood trees. The most extensive tree damage was noted near the Sims Chapel Holiness Church. An addition to the church was damaged heavily. The addition was an open facing structure which allowed the wind to get inside. A few structures suffered minor damage along the path, due to downed trees. Based on radar data, the start point of the tornado could have occurred west of John Johnston Road, but this is in a remote area where access is limited.
December 1996HailSims Chapel-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Washington 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
Reid Settlement3.2 miles15
Chestang4.4 miles15
Topton4.6 miles14
Fairford5.7 miles15
Happy Hill5.8 miles15
McIntosh7.0 miles14
Seaboard7.3 miles14
Dwight7.5 miles15

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 Sims ChapelAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1263446The 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 155628. 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.