BlockBefore

Heber, California

19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1915 and the latest in 1989. It stands in the El Centro census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92249. The Survey maps it on the Heber quadrangle. 6,896 people lived here at the 2020 count. It lies 10 feet below sea level.

Heber within Imperial County

Then and now

1915 to 1989

The same ground, surveyed 74 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Heber, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Heber, surveyed 1915

Population over time

2 figures

Heber grew from 4,275 to 6,896 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
20104,275
20206,896+2,621 (+61%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 surveys from 19 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

11 since 2006

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 11 fires within 5 miles of Heber between 2006 and 2017, burning about 488 acres in total. None started naturally. 2 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/undetermined7
Arson/incendiarism2
Misuse of fire by a minor1
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
9 August 2006Missing data/not specified/undetermined80 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
17 August 2006Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
6 June 2013Missing data/not specified/undetermined6.0 acresSan Diego Unitnot named
25 June 2010Misuse of fire by a minor70 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
8 May 2009Arson/incendiarism5.0 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
30 May 2008Arson/incendiarism70 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
26 May 2010Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
4 April 2013Missing data/not specified/undetermined50 acresSan Diego Unitnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Imperial County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Heber: 1 occurrence, 1 unknown. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Clay, Geothermal. 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
HeberGeothermalUnknown
Simons Brick CompanyClayOccurrenceSedimentary

Every working recorded in Imperial County

Storms near this place

5 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Heber in 5 storm reports between 2015 and 2025: 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail, 1 flash flood. 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
September 2025Flash FloodHeber$30,000Two feet of water inundating vehicles reported along Highway 111 south of Interstate 8. No injuries reported.
October 2022Thunderstorm WindHeber$19,000Power poles, approximately 19, were snapped and spread around the area between El Centro and Calexico. Winds were estimated between 55-60 mph. Timing estimated from radar. No injuries were reported.
September 2025Thunderstorm WindHeber$15,000Downed powerline and semi-truck flipped over onto vehicle along Highway 111 near East McCabe Rd just northeast of Heber. Wind gusts were estimated at 60-65 mph. No injuries reported.
August 2025Thunderstorm WindHeber$2,000Downed power poles along Clark Road near the intersection with Wahl Road. Wind gusts were estimated at 55-60 mph. Timing estimated from radar. No injuries were reported.
July 2015HailHeber-Isolated intense thunderstorms developed across far southern Imperial county during the late morning and early afternoon hours on July 18th. Partly due to an infusion of tropical moisture from former hurricane Dolores, the storms were capable of producing very large hail in addition to torrential rainfall. According to a local newspaper report, hailstones with a diameter of 1.25 inches were observed in the town of Heber, just to the south of El Centro. No damage was reported due to the large hail, however.

Every storm recorded in Imperial 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
Calexico3.9 miles24
El Centro4.6 miles21
Anza5.1 miles22
Watermans Corner5.6 miles22
Wilsie6.2 miles21
Meloland6.6 miles22
Mount Signal6.8 miles20
Imperial8.3 miles21

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 HeberAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2785753The 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 1660738. 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.