BlockBefore

Big Flat, Arkansas

18 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1890 and the latest in 1985. It stands in District 11. It lies in ZIP code area 72617. The Survey maps it on the Big Flat quadrangle. 88 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,237 feet above sea level.

Big Flat within Baxter County

On record in Big Flat

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 4 records

Population over time

2 figures

Big Flat fell from 105 to 88 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
2010105
202088-17 (-16%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 18 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

182 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 182 fires within 5 miles of Big Flat between 1992 and 2020, burning about 7,152 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 136 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/incendiarism136
Missing data/not specified/undetermined20
Debris and open burning15
Recreation and ceremony3
Natural3
Equipment and vehicle use2
Smoking1
Other causes1
Fireworks1

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 2011Equipment and vehicle use30 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
8 September 1999Arson/incendiarismunder an acreOzark-St. Francis National ForestsTRASH
30 September 1994Arson/incendiarism3.0 acresOzark-St. Francis National Forestsnot named
18 September 2000Arson/incendiarismunder an acreOzark-St. Francis National ForestsSPRING
15 September 2000Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
14 September 2000Arson/incendiarismunder an acreOzark-St. Francis National ForestsFARRIS
13 September 2002Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
13 September 2001Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Baxter 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 Big Flat: 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Manganese. 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
Earl Sword PropertyManganeseProspect

Every working recorded in Baxter County

Storms near this place

5 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Big Flat in 5 storm reports between 2008 and 2022: 3 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind. 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 2022Thunderstorm WindBig Flat$10,000A picture was shown on social media of a tree blown over onto a truck in Big Flat.
March 2017Thunderstorm WindBig Flat-Thunderstorm winds downed or snapped numerous trees, with one tree on a mobile home. A window was also blown out.
April 2014HailBig Flat-no account filed
June 2011HailBig Flat-no account filed
June 2008HailBig Flat-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Baxter 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
Jonesdale (historical)4.7 miles18
Casteel (historical)10.0 miles19
Advance10.4 miles18
Buffalo City11.4 miles18
Culp12.2 miles19
McPhearson12.3 miles17
Lone Rock12.5 miles17
Herron12.7 miles17

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 Big FlatAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2135364The 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 76337. 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.