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Guerneville, California

23 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1920 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the Russian River-Sonoma Coast census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95446. It lies near Pocket Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Guerneville quadrangle. 4,552 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 59 feet above sea level.

Guerneville within Sonoma County

Then and now

1920 to 1997

The same ground, surveyed 77 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Guerneville, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet of Guerneville, surveyed 1920

On record in Guerneville

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 4 records

Population over time

2 figures

Guerneville grew from 4,534 to 4,552 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
20104,534
20204,552+18 (+0%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

13 surveys from 23 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

398 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 398 fires within 5 miles of Guerneville between 1992 and 2019, burning about 195 acres in total. 5 started naturally. 28 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/undetermined184
Equipment and vehicle use59
Debris and open burning48
Arson/incendiarism28
Recreation and ceremony27
Misuse of fire by a minor20
Power generation/transmission/distribution14
Smoking12
Natural5
Other causes1

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
9 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresSonoma-Lake Napa UnitSUNSET
8 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionVISTA
8 September 2014Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreSonoma-Lake Napa UnitONE SIXTEEN
8 September 1998Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSonoma-Lake Napa UnitNEIDEAU
8 September 1995Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSonoma-Lake Napa UnitARMSTRONG
8 September 1995Arson/incendiarismunder an acreSonoma-Lake Napa UnitRIO NIDO#1
7 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionMARTINELLI RD / RIVER RD
7 September 2007Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreSonoma-Lake Napa UnitRIVERSIDE DR GUERNEVIL 4

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Sonoma County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 26 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 26 workings within 5 miles of Guerneville: 11 unknowns, 9 occurrences, 3 producers, 3 past producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Mercury, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Chromium, Stone. 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
Altamont Copper GroupMercury, CopperOccurrence
AltamontCopperOccurrence
AltamontCopper, MercuryUnknown
Austin Creek PitStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Giovaninni QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Bohan & CanelisSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Burl Howell QuarryStoneUnknown
Clar QuarryStoneUnknown
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Guerneville Mine & MillStoneProducer

Every working recorded in Sonoma County

Storms near this place

11 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Guerneville in 11 storm reports between 2002 and 2024: 7 flood, 1 heavy rain, 1 hail, 1 flash flood. The reports record 1 death. 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
November 2024FloodGuerneville1 killedA 911 caller reported to Sonoma County dispatch that they had seen a car go into floodwaters near Mays Canyon Road and Highway 116. Rescue crews arrived and found the vehicle, and the driver was found dead.
January 2002Heavy RainGuerneville$200,000no account filed
January 2024FloodGuerneville$10Localized flooding was reported in northern Guerneville.
January 2024FloodGuerneville$10Heavy rain caused flooding from Fife Creek at Sycamore Court Mobile Home Park. Three inches of water flooded a trailer in less than 20 minutes. Report Courtesy KGO television/ABC 7 San Francisco.
February 2019FloodGuerneville-Vehicle stuck in water in front of the Guerneville Lodge near the Russian River.
February 2019FloodGuerneville-The Russian River at Guerneville hit flood stage (32ft) at approximately 1600 hrs on February 26th, 2019. The gauge crested at 45.38 feet at 22:30 pm February 27th, 2019. Local law enforcement indicated the town of Guerneville became an island and was only accessible by boat or helicopter. The media reported approximately 4,000 structures were impacted by flood waters. The gauge did not fall below flood stage until after 1:30 pm on March 1st.
February 2019FloodGuerneville-CHP put up road closed signs Mill Ct and Mill St.
January 2018Debris FlowGuerneville-One inch deep slide blocking roadway at SR116 and Riverside Drive.
January 2017Flash FloodGuerneville-Flooding east of 5th street. Fife Creek overflowing.
February 2017FloodGuerneville-Armstrong Woods Rd/Morningside Dr.
December 2003HailGuerneville-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Sonoma 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
Guernewood Park0.9 miles16
El Bonita1.0 miles23
Rolands1.0 miles23
Guernewood1.2 miles16
Edendale1.2 miles16
Vacation Beach1.2 miles16
Montesano1.5 miles16
Northwood Heights1.5 miles20

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 GuernevilleAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2542807The 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 277527. 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.