Buena, California
40 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1996. It stands in the Oceanside-Escondido census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92083. It stands on Buena Creek. The Survey maps it on the San Marcos quadrangle.
Then and now
1893 to 1996The same ground, surveyed 103 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1893 against another survey:
Topographic sheets covering this place
16 surveys from 40 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.
- 1893 USGS Escondido quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1901 USGS Escondido quadrangle1:62500, 6 printings
- 1901 USGS San Luis Rey quadrangle1:125000, 8 printings
- 1904 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 2 quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1942 USGS Escondido quadrangle1:62500
- 1947 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1948 USGS San Marcos quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1949 USGS San Marcos quadrangle1:24000
- 1949 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1960 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1968 USGS San Marcos quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1982 USGS Oceanside quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1996 USGS San Marcos quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
355 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 355 fires within 5 miles of Buena between 1992 and 2020, burning about 700 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 48 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 | 184 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 71 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 48 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 20 |
| Smoking | 13 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 6 |
| Debris and open burning | 5 |
| Natural | 4 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3 |
| Fireworks | 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 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | San Diego Unit | ELISO |
| 8 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Diego Unit | not named |
| 8 September 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | San Diego Unit | WINTERHAVEN |
| 7 September 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 6 September 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 6 September 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | San Diego Unit | TWIN OAKS |
| 5 September 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | San Diego Unit | CENTRE CITY FIRE |
| 4 September 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 32 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 32 workings within 5 miles of Buena: 18 past producers, 12 producers, 1 unknown, 1 prospect. 12 still produce. What was taken out: Granite, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Beryllium. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hogerman Property | Beryllium | Prospect | ||
| San Marcos Quarry | Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Wyroc Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Bryant, D. G., San Marcos | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Calavera Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Cowdrey E. E. | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Fellows and Clutter Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Knox, John, Vista | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Lee, Ted, Vista | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Lynch Prospect | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
4 since 2016Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Buena in 4 storm reports between 2016 and 2024: 2 flood, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buena | $500 | A 20-foot tree was knocked over by thunderstorm wind gusts estimated around 50 mph. The tree blocked Fortuna Ranch Road. |
| March 2024 | Flood | Buena | - | CalTrans report of flooding on the onramp from Sycamore Avenue onto SR78 West. |
| January 2024 | Flood | Buena | - | SR78 West and Civic Center Drive offramp had about one foot of standing water. |
| July 2021 | Lightning | Buena | - | Retransmit. FOX5 reported 2 palm trees (with photos) on fire from lightning strike. 15 cloud to ground strikes detected from 4 am to 530 am in Vista and 95 total in San Diego county and open waters. Fire burned for 20 minutes until fire agency put out. Unconfirmed report of another palm tree burned in Oceanside. Damage cost is estimated. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ocean Hills | 2.5 miles | 48 | |
| Vista | 2.6 miles | 40 | |
| Twin Oaks | 3.0 miles | 40 | |
| San Marcos | 3.1 miles | 40 | |
| Lake San Marcos | 3.3 miles | 40 | |
| Richland | 3.8 miles | 40 | |
| Jesmond Dene | 5.3 miles | 42 | |
| Lawrence Welk Resort Village | 5.4 miles | 40 |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1660390. 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.















