BlockBefore

Occidental, California

20 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1935 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the Russian River-Sonoma Coast census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95472. It stands on Lancel Creek. The Survey maps it on the Camp Meeker quadrangle. 1,132 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 594 feet above sea level.

Occidental within Sonoma County

Then and now

1935 to 1995

The same ground, surveyed 60 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Occidental, surveyed 1995
Topographic sheet of Occidental, surveyed 1935

Compare 1935 against another survey:

Population over time

2 figures

Occidental grew from 1,115 to 1,132 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
20101,115
20201,132+17 (+2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 20 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

243 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 243 fires within 5 miles of Occidental between 1992 and 2020, burning about 139 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 11 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/undetermined81
Equipment and vehicle use72
Debris and open burning41
Power generation/transmission/distribution11
Arson/incendiarism11
Smoking10
Recreation and ceremony7
Misuse of fire by a minor5
Natural4
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
8 September 2004Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSonoma-Lake Napa UnitBARNETT
6 September 2010Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSonoma-Lake Napa UnitBODEGA
6 September 1995Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresSonoma-Lake Napa UnitGRATON
5 September 2003Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSonoma-Lake Napa UnitGREEN #3
5 September 2002Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSonoma-Lake Napa UnitBARNETT
4 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSonoma-Lake Napa UnitBARNETT
4 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
4 September 1999Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSonoma-Lake Napa UnitWHITEMAN

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Sonoma County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 24 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 24 workings within 5 miles of Occidental: 10 unknowns, 8 occurrences, 4 producers, 2 past producers. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Chromium, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Mercury, Copper. 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
Unnamed LocationGarnetUnknown
Burl Howell QuarryStoneUnknown
Clark QuarryStoneUnknown
AltamontCopperOccurrence
AltamontCopper, MercuryUnknown
Unnamed LocationCopperUnknown
Unnamed LocationMercuryOccurrence
Unnamed ProspectMercuryUnknown
Unnamed ProspectMercuryUnknown

Every working recorded in Sonoma County

Storms near this place

6 since 2011

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Occidental in 6 storm reports between 2011 and 2019: 2 heavy rain, 2 hail, 2 debris flow. 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 2011Heavy RainOccidental$25,000Pre-dawn downpours caused localized small stream flooding in some areas in central Sonoma County. Those of note were Todd Road west of Stony Point Road outside of Santa Rosa, and Green Hill Road near Ross Road in Granton, where a man drove into the high water and became stuck for a time just after 7:00 a.m. PST. Flooding also caused the closure of Green Valley Road near Sullivan Road, where another vehicle stalled in the high water, and made a pond out of Shiloh Road near Windsor Road. Minor rock and mud slides were reported throughout the area between Santa Rosa and Calistoga.
February 2019Debris FlowOccidental-KGO is reporting a mud slide that hs closed the Bohemian Hwy in both directions, trapping people and possibly damaging two homes.
February 2019Debris FlowOccidental-Mud slide and trees blocking roadway at Bohemian Hwy and Scouts Camp Rd.
December 2014Heavy RainOccidental-Spotter measures rainfall total from 5:00 PM December 10 through 7:30 AM December 11 of 3.97 inches.
February 2019HailOccidental-no account filed
January 2018HailOccidental-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
Camp Meeker1.4 miles20
Alliance Redwood2.2 miles20
Freestone3.0 miles18
Tyrone4.0 miles16
Bodega4.5 miles18
Hopyard (historical)4.5 miles20
Graton4.6 miles20
Williams (historical)4.7 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 OccidentalAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2338133The 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 277568. 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.