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.
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
- Miles Jeffery Barnlisted 1985
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 19 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 Calico Rock quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1964 USGS Harrison quadrangle1:250000
- 1985 USGS Bull Shoals Lake quadrangle1:100000
- 1985 USGS Harrison quadrangle1:250000
Fires near this place
94 since 1993Regional 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/incendiarism | 37 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 19 |
| Debris and open burning | 16 |
| Natural | 6 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 5 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 4 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 4 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 1998 | Natural | 2.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 6 September 1995 | Natural | 12 acres | Ozark-St. Francis National Forests | CHUCK |
| 26 September 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Ozark-St. Francis National Forests | MCGOWN |
| 15 September 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 14 September 2000 | Smoking | under an acre | Ozark-St. Francis National Forests | BEAR |
| 12 September 2000 | Natural | 9.0 acres | Ozark-St. Francis National Forests | CHRIS |
| 9 August 1996 | Natural | 15 acres | Ozark-St. Francis National Forests | HOG |
| 6 August 2004 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Ozark-St. Francis National Forests | FREEMAN |
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 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unk | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
5 since 2000Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2009 | Flash Flood | Optimus | $150,000 | Flooding 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 2003 | Tornado (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 2000 | Tornado (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 2002 | Hail | Optimus | - | no account filed |
| May 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Optimus | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boyle (historical) | 4.1 miles | 19 | |
| Hedges (historical) | 7.1 miles | 16 | |
| Allison | 7.5 miles | 16 | |
| Fiftysix | 7.8 miles | 16 | |
| Gayler | 8.5 miles | 16 | |
| Herpel | 10.8 miles | 16 | |
| Oga (historical) | 10.9 miles | 15 | |
| Mountain View | 12.2 miles | 14 |
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 Optimus | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q7098983 | 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 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.










