BlockBefore

Optimus, Arkansas

19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1890 and the latest in 1985. It stands in District 1. It lies in ZIP code area 72519. It lies near Panther Mountain. The Survey maps it on the Calico Rock quadrangle. It stands 676 feet above sea level.

Optimus within Stone County

On record in Optimus

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 1 record

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 19 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

94 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 94 fires within 5 miles of Optimus between 1993 and 2019, burning about 1,855 acres in total. 6 started naturally. 37 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/incendiarism37
Missing data/not specified/undetermined19
Debris and open burning16
Natural6
Equipment and vehicle use5
Recreation and ceremony4
Power generation/transmission/distribution4
Smoking2
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
8 September 1998Natural2.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
6 September 1995Natural12 acresOzark-St. Francis National ForestsCHUCK
26 September 2004Arson/incendiarismunder an acreOzark-St. Francis National ForestsMCGOWN
15 September 2002Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
14 September 2000Smokingunder an acreOzark-St. Francis National ForestsBEAR
12 September 2000Natural9.0 acresOzark-St. Francis National ForestsCHRIS
9 August 1996Natural15 acresOzark-St. Francis National ForestsHOG
6 August 2004Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreOzark-St. Francis National ForestsFREEMAN

Every fire recorded in Stone 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 Optimus: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
UnkSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Stone County

Storms near this place

5 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Optimus in 5 storm reports between 2000 and 2009: 2 tornado, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail, 1 flash flood. 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
October 2009Flash FloodOptimus$150,000Flooding occurred throughout the Mountain View area and at the Martin Access Road near Arkansas Highway 14. Many county roads and some small bridges were damaged.
April 2003Tornado (F0)Optimus-A weak tornado touched down about 2.5 miles west of Optimus and then quickly lifted. The only damage noted were some downed tree limbs and a few tops out of trees.
May 2000Tornado (F1)Optimus-A weak tornado affected areas about 3 to 4 miles east of Optimus in Stone County...mainly in the Boswell Access Area of the White River. The tornado mostly caused tree damage before moving into Izard County.
April 2002HailOptimus-no account filed
May 2000Thunderstorm WindOptimus-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Stone 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
Boyle (historical)4.1 miles19
Hedges (historical)7.1 miles16
Allison7.5 miles16
Fiftysix7.8 miles16
Gayler8.5 miles16
Herpel10.8 miles16
Oga (historical)10.9 miles15
Mountain View12.2 miles14

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 OptimusAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q7098983The 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 72957. 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.