Mescal, Arizona
21 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1915 and the latest in 1996. It stands in the Benson census division. It lies in ZIP code area 85602. The Survey maps it on the Mescal quadrangle. 1,751 people lived here at the 2020 count.
Population over time
2 figuresMescal fell from 1,812 to 1,751 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 1,812 | |
| 2020 | 1,751 | -61 (-3%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 surveys from 21 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.
- 1915 USGS Benson quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1926 USGS Whetstone quadrangle1:62500
- 1943 USGS Benson quadrangle1:125000
- 1956 USGS Nogales quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Benson quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Nogales quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Nogales quadrangle1:250000
- 1973 USGS Mescal quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1994 USGS Fort Huachuca quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
- 1996 USGS Mescal quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
205 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 205 fires within 5 miles of Mescal between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,054 acres in total. 8 started naturally. 9 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 133 |
| Smoking | 22 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 21 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 9 |
| Debris and open burning | 8 |
| Natural | 8 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Mescal-J6 Fire District | not named |
| 8 September 2001 | Smoking | under an acre | Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Office | TRES ALAMOS |
| 7 September 1992 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Office | not named |
| 6 September 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Office | not named |
| 29 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Office | CORNFIELD |
| 23 September 1992 | Smoking | under an acre | Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Office | not named |
| 22 September 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Office | SKYLINE |
| 20 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - Southeast District | EMPIRITA CUMARO |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
4 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Mescal: 2 producers, 2 occurrences. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Geothermal, Fluorine-Fluorite, Copper. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
Storms near this place
6 since 2009Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Mescal in 6 storm reports between 2009 and 2021: 3 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 funnel cloud, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mescal | $30,000 | Severe thunderstorm microburst winds caused significant damage to mobile homes at Mescal. At least two mobile homes suffered roof damage or roof collapse. Several awnings on the mobile homes were destroyed. Thunderstorm winds were estimated to be near 70 mph. |
| August 2021 | Flash Flood | Mescal | $5,000 | An inch of rain in 30 minutes caused flash flooding of Mescal Rd. Two occupants of a vehicle that drove into floodwaters were rescued 8 miles north of Mescal. |
| September 2013 | Funnel Cloud | Mescal | - | A funnel cloud was observed and photographed by a member of the media northeast of Mescal. |
| July 2021 | Hail | Mescal | - | no account filed |
| July 2017 | Hail | Mescal | - | no account filed |
| July 2011 | Hail | Mescal | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chamiso | 4.3 miles | 21 | |
| Benson | 7.6 miles | 21 | |
| Pomerene | 7.9 miles | 21 | |
| Fenner | 10.9 miles | 21 | |
| Curtiss | 13.1 miles | 21 | |
| Saint David | 13.1 miles | 21 | |
| Escalante Crossing | 14.9 miles | 21 | |
| Tully | 16.5 miles | 21 |
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 Mescal | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q6011334 | 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 31744. 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.









