BlockBefore

Paicines, California

21 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1921 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the San Benito-Bitterwater census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95043. The Survey maps it on the Paicines quadrangle. It stands 682 feet above sea level.

Paicines within San Benito County

Then and now

1921 to 1983

The same ground, surveyed 62 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Paicines, surveyed 1983
Topographic sheet of Paicines, surveyed 1921

On record in Paicines

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 1 record

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 surveys from 21 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

90 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 90 fires within 5 miles of Paicines between 1992 and 2018, burning about 2,610 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 9 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
Equipment and vehicle use40
Missing data/not specified/undetermined26
Arson/incendiarism9
Debris and open burning6
Power generation/transmission/distribution4
Natural2
Smoking2
Misuse of fire by a minor1

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/undeterminedunder an acreSan Benito-Monterey UnitSCHOOL 4
9 September 2003Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresSan Benito-Monterey UnitMURPHY
7 September 2002Equipment and vehicle use38 acresSan Benito-Monterey UnitPG&E#19
3 September 1993Equipment and vehicle use110 acresSan Benito-Monterey UnitHWY 25 #2
26 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Benito-Monterey UnitAIRLINE HWY / PANOCHE RD
20 September 1992Arson/incendiarismunder an acreSan Benito-Monterey UnitF STREET
19 September 1995Equipment and vehicle use45 acresSan Benito-Monterey UnitBAYLY
18 September 2013Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Benito-Monterey UnitCIENEGA

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in San Benito County

Mines and quarries near this place

7 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Paicines: 3 producers, 1 past producer, 1 prospect, 1 occurrence. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Limestone, General, Clay, Copper, Arsenic. 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
Cowell-Thompson Creek DepositLimestone, GeneralPast Producer
Paicines Clay DepositsClayProspect
Riley RanchCopper, ArsenicOccurrenceMalachite
Riley RanchCopper, ArsenicUnknown
Paicines PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Paicines Plant No. 7Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Tres Pinos Creek PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in San Benito County

Storms near this place

1 since 2026

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Paicines in 1 storm report in 2026: 1 flood. The reports record 1 death and 1 injury. 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 2026FloodPaicines1 killed, 1 hurtA small sedan attempted to ford Tres Pinos Creek along Browns Valley Road near Paicines on the night of February 17, with first responders responding to the scene during the night. The next morning, the driver was found walking along Highway 25 asking about the location of the passenger. The passenger's body was eventually found a mile downstream of where the car had gotten stranded. The driver was later arrested on charges of gross vehicular manslaughter. At the time of the incident, the TESC1 river gauge on Tres Pinos Creek measured stages above 2 feet, compared to a typical stage of less than a foot.

Every storm recorded in San Benito 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
Tres Pinos4.8 miles24
Vineyard (historical)5.9 miles26
Ridgemark7.4 miles24
Hollister10.8 miles26
Cottage Corners11.7 miles26
Duri (historical)11.8 miles26
Morse13.6 miles26
Hudner15.0 miles24

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 PaicinesAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q7124638The 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 1659334. 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.