BlockBefore

Bena, California

32 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1914 and the latest in 1978. It lies in ZIP code area 93220. It stands on Walker Basin Creek. The Survey maps it on the Bena quadrangle. It stands 863 feet above sea level.

Bena within Kern County

Then and now

1914 to 1978

The same ground, surveyed 64 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Bena, surveyed 1978
Topographic sheet of Bena, surveyed 1914

Topographic sheets covering this place

14 surveys from 32 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

53 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 53 fires within 5 miles of Bena between 1992 and 2020, burning about 8,190 acres in total. None started naturally. None was 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/undetermined37
Equipment and vehicle use14
Railroad operations and maintenance1
Smoking1

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
7 September 1999Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreCentral California DistrictUNNAMED FIRE 0442
5 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreKern County Fire Departmentnot named
30 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined11 acresKern County Fire Departmentnot named
22 September 2020Equipment and vehicle use3.6 acresKern County Fire Departmentnot named
1 September 2006Equipment and vehicle use3.0 acresKern County Fire Departmentnot named
9 August 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.9 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
8 August 2012Equipment and vehicle use1.3 acresKern County Fire Departmentnot named
5 August 2017Missing data/not specified/undetermined26 acresCentral California DistrictBEALE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Kern County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 13 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 13 workings within 5 miles of Bena: 7 past producers, 4 producers, 1 occurrence, 1 unknown. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Copper, Gold, Silica. 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
Cottonwood Creek DepositsGypsum-AnhydritePast Producer
Osdick GroupTungstenPast ProducerVein
Sand Ridge PreserveSilicaPast Producer
Gem ProspectCopperOccurrence
Gem ProspectCopperUnknown
MinnehahaGoldProducer
Sunshine MineGoldProducer
Caliente Creek PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Caliente Creek PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Edison Sand PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Kern County

Storms near this place

1 since 2019

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Bena in 1 storm report in 2019: 1 tornado. 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
June 2019Tornado (EF0)Bena-A small EF0 tornado touched down in a rural area east of Bakersfield and northeast of Lamont. The tornado tracked southwestward for around 300 yards.

Every storm recorded in Kern 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
Ilmon2.6 miles32
Treves (historical)2.7 miles29
Tarina5.9 miles25
Caliente6.4 miles32
Rock Springs (historical)6.6 miles27
Bealville7.1 miles32
Edison7.1 miles29
Di Giorgio7.8 miles29

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 BenaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q4886773The 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 252852. 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.