BlockBefore

El Cerrito, California

39 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1901 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the Elsinore Valley census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92881. It stands on Bedford Wash. The Survey maps it on the Corona South quadrangle. 5,058 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 860 feet above sea level.

El Cerrito within Riverside County

Then and now

1901 to 1997

The same ground, surveyed 96 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of El Cerrito, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet of El Cerrito, surveyed 1901

Compare 1901 against another survey:

Population over time

2 figures

El Cerrito fell from 5,100 to 5,058 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.

YearPeople Change
20105,100
20205,058-42 (-1%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

17 surveys from 39 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

552 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 552 fires within 5 miles of El Cerrito between 1992 and 2020, burning about 13,387 acres in total. 8 started naturally. 51 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/undetermined254
Equipment and vehicle use133
Arson/incendiarism51
Misuse of fire by a minor40
Recreation and ceremony19
Smoking18
Debris and open burning15
Power generation/transmission/distribution10
Natural8
Fireworks2
Other causes1
Firearms and explosives use1

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
8 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionANDOVER ST HOMG
8 September 2011Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresRiverside UnitDAWSON
8 September 1993Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreRiverside UnitSTATE#1413
8 September 1992Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreRiverside UnitSTATE 1391
6 September 1994Missing data/not specified/undetermined6.0 acresRiverside UnitSTATE
30 September 2010Debris and open burning100 acresRiverside UnitGROVEWOOD DR ELCE
3 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
3 September 2002Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreRiverside UnitSTATE FIRE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Riverside County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 121 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 121 workings within 5 miles of El Cerrito: 79 past producers, 14 producers, 14 prospects, 12 occurrences. 14 still produce. What was taken out: Clay, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gypsum-Anhydrite. 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
6 MineKaolinPast Producer
Big Basin Copper ProspectCopper, Gold, SilverProspect
Middlesworth Clay DepositClay, AluminumPast ProducerSedimentary
Sierra Grande QuarriesStone, Dimension, Stone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Temescal Canyon Scheelite Occur.TungstenOccurrence
Temescal QuarryLimestone, GeneralPast Producer
Unnamed Limestone ProspectLimestone, DimensionOccurrence
Corona Lead-ZincLead, Antimony, Silver, ZincPast ProducerVein
Corona Lead-Zinc MineLead, Antimony, Silver, ZincPast Producer
Cajalco Dumortierite OccurrenceKyaniteOccurrence

Every working recorded in Riverside County

Storms near this place

5 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names El Cerrito in 5 storm reports between 1997 and 2019: 2 flood, 2 flash flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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
February 2019Flash FloodEl Cerrito$70,000,000Heavy rainfall of 3 to 6 inches occurred in 12 hours and up to 1 inch per hour rates. This was the most significant flash flooding and debris flows since the December 6, 2018 event. The Holy fire scar flooded and sent debris flows through Temescal Canyon road and into homes and over roadways. Riverside County reported up to 70 million dollars in flood control structure damage in the 8 canyons affected.
August 2017Thunderstorm WindEl Cerrito$25,000Power lines downed by strong outflow winds.
January 2019Flash FloodEl Cerrito$20,000Flash flooding from heavy rainfall over Holy fire scar in Trilogy parkway and Glen Eden with water going around homes.
January 2017FloodEl Cerrito-Numerous reports of urban street flooding throughout the Inland Empire that produced significant impacts for the evening commute.
December 1997FloodEl Cerrito-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Riverside 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
Pepper Corner1.7 miles39
Weisel2.4 miles44
Home Gardens2.6 miles38
Porphyry2.6 miles38
Corona3.3 miles38
May4.1 miles43
Arcilla4.6 miles44
La Sierra5.7 miles43

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 El CerritoAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3458276The 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 1656502. 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.