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.
Then and now
1914 to 1978The 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 sheets covering this place
14 surveys from 32 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.
- 1914 USGS Caliente quadrangle1:125000, 7 printings
- 1929 USGS Bena quadrangle1:31680
- 1929 USGS Bena quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1932 USGS Bena quadrangle1:31680, 2 printings
- 1943 USGS Breckenridge Mountain quadrangle1:62500
- 1943 USGS Breckenridge Mtn quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1948 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1966 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000
- 1972 USGS Bena quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1978 USGS Tehachapi quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
53 since 1992Regional 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/undetermined | 37 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 14 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 1 |
| Smoking | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 September 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Central California District | UNNAMED FIRE 0442 |
| 5 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Kern County Fire Department | not named |
| 30 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11 acres | Kern County Fire Department | not named |
| 22 September 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3.6 acres | Kern County Fire Department | not named |
| 1 September 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3.0 acres | Kern County Fire Department | not named |
| 9 August 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.9 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 8 August 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.3 acres | Kern County Fire Department | not named |
| 5 August 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 26 acres | Central California District | BEALE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 13 shownRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cottonwood Creek Deposits | Gypsum-Anhydrite | Past Producer | ||
| Osdick Group | Tungsten | Past Producer | Vein | |
| Sand Ridge Preserve | Silica | Past Producer | ||
| Gem Prospect | Copper | Occurrence | ||
| Gem Prospect | Copper | Unknown | ||
| Minnehaha | Gold | Producer | ||
| Sunshine Mine | Gold | Producer | ||
| Caliente Creek Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Caliente Creek Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Edison Sand Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
1 since 2019Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2019 | Tornado (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. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ilmon | 2.6 miles | 32 | |
| Treves (historical) | 2.7 miles | 29 | |
| Tarina | 5.9 miles | 25 | |
| Caliente | 6.4 miles | 32 | |
| Rock Springs (historical) | 6.6 miles | 27 | |
| Bealville | 7.1 miles | 32 | |
| Edison | 7.1 miles | 29 | |
| Di Giorgio | 7.8 miles | 29 |
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 Bena | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q4886773 | 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 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.













