First Mesa, Arizona
19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1883 and the latest in 1991. It stands in the Hopi census division. It lies in ZIP code area 86042. It stands on Keams Canyon Wash. The Survey maps it on the Polacca quadrangle. 1,352 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 5,810 feet above sea level.
Population over time
3 figuresFirst Mesa grew from 1,124 to 1,352 between 2000 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 1,124 | |
| 2010 | 1,555 | +431 (+38%) |
| 2020 | 1,352 | -203 (-13%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 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.
- 1883 USGS Tusayan quadrangle1:250000
- 1886 USGS Tusayan quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1947 USGS Flagstaff quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Flagstaff quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Flagstaff quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Flagstaff quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS Flagstaff quadrangle1:250000
- 1966 USGS Polacca quadrangle1:62500
- 1982 USGS Polacca quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1991 USGS Polacca quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
307 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 307 fires within 5 miles of First Mesa between 1994 and 2020, burning about 692 acres in total. 13 started naturally. 18 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 burning | 182 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 21 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 18 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 16 |
| Fireworks | 16 |
| Natural | 13 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 12 |
| Smoking | 4 |
| Other causes | 3 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
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 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Hopi Agency | BEESON 2 |
| 8 September 2020 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Hopi Agency | PABLO |
| 7 September 2016 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Hopi Agency | STRAW |
| 7 September 2012 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Hopi Agency | HWY 264 MP 394 |
| 7 September 2012 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Hopi Agency | OLD PDS II |
| 7 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Hopi Agency | DIMP #2 |
| 27 September 2012 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Hopi Agency | BON |
| 27 September 2011 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 2.0 acres | Hopi Agency | RED CLAY |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of First Mesa: 2 occurrences, 1 unknown. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Clay, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sheeps Springs | Manganese | Unknown | ||
| Unidentified Clay Occurrence | Clay | Occurrence | ||
| Unidentified Clay Occurrence | Clay | Occurrence |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Polacca | 0.0 miles | 19 | |
| Hano | 0.6 miles | 19 | |
| Sichomovi | 0.7 miles | 19 | |
| Walpi | 0.9 miles | 19 | |
| Wepo Village | 3.9 miles | 19 | |
| Mishongnovi | 6.3 miles | 19 | |
| Sipaulovi | 6.4 miles | 19 | |
| Toreva | 6.5 miles | 19 |
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 First Mesa | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1419490 | 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 1853158. 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.









