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West Jefferson, Alabama

24 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the West Jefferson census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35130. It stands on Falls Creek. The Survey maps it on the Dora quadrangle. 417 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 410 feet above sea level.

West Jefferson within Jefferson County

Population over time

2 figures

West Jefferson grew from 338 to 417 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
2010338
2020417+79 (+23%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 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

333 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 333 fires within 5 miles of West Jefferson between 1994 and 2019, burning about 5,145 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 148 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/incendiarism148
Debris and open burning122
Missing data/not specified/undetermined33
Recreation and ceremony10
Equipment and vehicle use7
Railroad operations and maintenance5
Misuse of fire by a minor4
Natural2
Power generation/transmission/distribution2

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
9 September 2016Arson/incendiarism2.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commission20160909-12
8 September 1999Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
8 September 1998Equipment and vehicle use3.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
7 September 1997Arson/incendiarism1.5 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
6 September 1998Arson/incendiarism10 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
6 September 1995Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
5 September 1998Arson/incendiarism21 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
5 September 1998Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Jefferson County

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of West Jefferson: 2 occurrences, 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Aluminum, 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
Jef 2 Clay ProspectClayProspect
Waste Pond - Bessie MineAluminumOccurrenceIllite, Kaolinite
Waste Pond - Flat Top MineAluminumOccurrenceIllite, Kaolinite

Every working 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
Riverside Estates0.5 miles24
Palos1.3 miles24
Flat Creek1.3 miles24
Media1.8 miles24
Snowtown1.9 miles24
Bessie1.9 miles24
Bessie Junction1.9 miles24
Porter1.9 miles22

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 West JeffersonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q65735The 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 128785. 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.