BlockBefore

Brightstar, Arkansas

16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1952 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Sulphur Township. It lies in ZIP code area 71834. The Survey maps it on the Doddridge quadrangle.

Brightstar within Miller County

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 16 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

242 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 242 fires within 5 miles of Brightstar between 1995 and 2020, burning about 2,013 acres in total. 8 started naturally. 102 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/incendiarism102
Debris and open burning69
Missing data/not specified/undetermined39
Equipment and vehicle use15
Natural8
Misuse of fire by a minor4
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Recreation and ceremony1
Smoking1
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 2011Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
9 September 2011Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
9 September 2011Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
5 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
4 September 2019Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceCASS 21:36
4 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
4 September 2014Debris and open burning2.0 acresArkansas Forestry CommissionMIL15019195
29 September 2015Debris and open burning2.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Miller County

Storms near this place

12 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Brightstar in 12 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 7 thunderstorm wind, 4 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
April 1993Thunderstorm WindBrightstar$50,000Numerous trees were blown down, blocking several county roads.
February 1993Thunderstorm WindBrightstar$50,000Thunderstorm winds blew down several trees and damaged two automobiles.
April 2010Tornado (EF0)Brightstar$25,000This tornado was a continuation from the tornado that first touched down in Cass County, Texas. The storm continued into Miller County, as an EF0 tornado. As the tornado moved into Miller County, several large trees limbs and branches were ripped down by the tornado along Miller County Roads 152 and 24. The tornado entered Fouke, Arkansas at around 8:10 PM CDT, where it snapped several large trees in a nearby field and caused property damage when it blew a large tree limb onto the bed of a truck and into the corner of a house. The tornado lifted as it exited Fouke. Maximum winds are estimated at 70-80 mph.
May 1997HailBrightstar$10,000Numerous reports of broken windows and damaged roofs on homes and automobiles.
November 1994Thunderstorm WindBrightstar$5,000Thunderstorm winds downed several trees.
April 2025Thunderstorm WindBrightstar-A tree was blown down at the intersection of Highway 160 and County Road 3.
June 2023Thunderstorm WindBrightstar-Several trees downed along Miller County Road 75 a few miles east of Bloomburg, Texas.
October 2019Thunderstorm WindBrightstar-Numerous trees and large branches were downed across Highway 160 between Bloomburg and Interstate 49.
November 2012Thunderstorm WindBrightstar-Trees were downed in the community of Bright Star, Arkansas.
November 1994HailBrightstar-Thunderstorm winds downed some trees.
February 1993HailBrightstar-Thunderstorm winds blew down several trees and damaged two automobiles.
May 1994HailBrightstar-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Miller 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
Hammons3.1 miles13
Ravanna4.4 miles13
Black Diamond4.5 miles15
Doddridge4.6 miles16
Era (historical)5.7 miles16
Fort Lynn6.6 miles15
Capps City6.6 miles16
Kiblah6.6 miles16

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 BrightstarAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q18326208The 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 76417. 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.

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.