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.
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
Big Flat School Gymnasiumlisted 1993
Cold Water Schoollisted 2008- Domino Shedlisted 2025
- Uncle Willie Huffines Parklisted 2025
Population over time
2 figuresBig 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 105 | |
| 2020 | 88 | -17 (-16%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 18 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1890 USGS Mountain Home quadrangle1:125000
- 1891 USGS Mountain Home quadrangle1:125000
- 1894 USGS Mountain Home quadrangle1:125000, 6 printings
- 1945 USGS Harrison quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Harrison quadrangle1:250000
- 1954 USGS Harrison quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Harrison quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS Harrison quadrangle1:250000
- 1966 USGS Big Flat quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1985 USGS Bull Shoals Lake quadrangle1:100000
- 1985 USGS Harrison quadrangle1:250000
Fires near this place
182 since 1992Regional 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/incendiarism | 136 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 |
| Debris and open burning | 15 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 3 |
| Natural | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 30 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 8 September 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Ozark-St. Francis National Forests | TRASH |
| 30 September 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 3.0 acres | Ozark-St. Francis National Forests | not named |
| 18 September 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Ozark-St. Francis National Forests | SPRING |
| 15 September 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 14 September 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Ozark-St. Francis National Forests | FARRIS |
| 13 September 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 13 September 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earl Sword Property | Manganese | Prospect |
Storms near this place
5 since 2008Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Big Flat | $10,000 | A picture was shown on social media of a tree blown over onto a truck in Big Flat. |
| March 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Big Flat | - | Thunderstorm winds downed or snapped numerous trees, with one tree on a mobile home. A window was also blown out. |
| April 2014 | Hail | Big Flat | - | no account filed |
| June 2011 | Hail | Big Flat | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Big Flat | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jonesdale (historical) | 4.7 miles | 18 | |
| Casteel (historical) | 10.0 miles | 19 | |
| Advance | 10.4 miles | 18 | |
| Buffalo City | 11.4 miles | 18 | |
| Culp | 12.2 miles | 19 | |
| McPhearson | 12.3 miles | 17 | |
| Lone Rock | 12.5 miles | 17 | |
| Herron | 12.7 miles | 17 |
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 Flat | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2135364 | The 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.










