BlockBefore

Perla, Arkansas

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1948 and the latest in 2000. It stands in Fenter Township. It lies in ZIP code area 72104. The Survey maps it on the Malvern South quadrangle. 257 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 335 feet above sea level.

Perla within Hot Spring County

Population over time

2 figures

Perla grew from 241 to 257 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
2010241
2020257+16 (+7%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 12 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

386 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 386 fires within 5 miles of Perla between 1997 and 2020, burning about 1,223 acres in total. 7 started naturally. 97 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
Debris and open burning155
Arson/incendiarism97
Missing data/not specified/undetermined88
Equipment and vehicle use18
Smoking10
Natural7
Railroad operations and maintenance7
Misuse of fire by a minor3
Recreation and ceremony1

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 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined10 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
6 September 2000Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
6 September 1998Smoking1.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
5 September 2005Debris and open burning2.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
5 September 1997Debris and open burning1.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
4 September 2014Arson/incendiarism10 acresArkansas Forestry CommissionHOT21970873
4 September 1997Debris and open burning1.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
3 September 1998Smoking1.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Hot Spring County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 21 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 21 workings within 5 miles of Perla: 10 producers, 8 unknowns, 3 past producers. 10 still produce. What was taken out: Clay, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Silica, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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
Malvern Quarry & MillStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
UnkStoneUnknown
UnkSilicaUnknown
UnkSilicaUnknown
Malvern Gravel Co.Sand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Malvern MillSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Ouchita Plant No 1Sand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Steve Hedges PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Tidwell PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
UnkSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown

Every working recorded in Hot Spring County

Storms near this place

4 since 2004

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Perla in 4 storm reports between 2004 and 2025: 2 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind, 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
April 2025Flash FloodPerla-Perla Road was completely washed out at Town Creek.
May 2012HailPerla-Dime to nickel size hail fell.
May 2006Thunderstorm WindPerla-no account filed
March 2004HailPerla-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Hot Spring 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
Gifford1.6 miles10
Malvern2.2 miles12
Harp2.8 miles12
Walco (historical)2.9 miles12
Wyandotte (historical)3.2 miles10
Abco3.2 miles12
Rockport3.3 miles13
Butterfield4.9 miles13

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 PerlaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2268603The 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 53285. 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.