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.
Then and now
1921 to 1983The 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.


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
Bear Valley Schoollisted 2014
Topographic sheets covering this place
12 surveys from 21 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1921 USGS Gonzales quadrangle1:62500, 5 printings
- 1940 USGS Gonzales quadrangle1:62500
- 1941 USGS Gonzales quadrangle1:62500
- 1948 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Gonzales quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
- 1968 USGS Paicines quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1974 USGS Monterey quadrangle1:250000
- 1983 USGS Monterey quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
90 since 1992Regional 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 use | 40 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 26 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 9 |
| Debris and open burning | 6 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 4 |
| Natural | 2 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Benito-Monterey Unit | SCHOOL 4 |
| 9 September 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | San Benito-Monterey Unit | MURPHY |
| 7 September 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 38 acres | San Benito-Monterey Unit | PG&E#19 |
| 3 September 1993 | Equipment and vehicle use | 110 acres | San Benito-Monterey Unit | HWY 25 #2 |
| 26 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Benito-Monterey Unit | AIRLINE HWY / PANOCHE RD |
| 20 September 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | San Benito-Monterey Unit | F STREET |
| 19 September 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 45 acres | San Benito-Monterey Unit | BAYLY |
| 18 September 2013 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | San Benito-Monterey Unit | CIENEGA |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
7 within 5 milesRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cowell-Thompson Creek Deposit | Limestone, General | Past Producer | ||
| Paicines Clay Deposits | Clay | Prospect | ||
| Riley Ranch | Copper, Arsenic | Occurrence | Malachite | |
| Riley Ranch | Copper, Arsenic | Unknown | ||
| Paicines Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Paicines Plant No. 7 | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Tres Pinos Creek Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
1 since 2026Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2026 | Flood | Paicines | 1 killed, 1 hurt | A 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. |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tres Pinos | 4.8 miles | 24 | |
| Vineyard (historical) | 5.9 miles | 26 | |
| Ridgemark | 7.4 miles | 24 | |
| Hollister | 10.8 miles | 26 | |
| Cottage Corners | 11.7 miles | 26 | |
| Duri (historical) | 11.8 miles | 26 | |
| Morse | 13.6 miles | 26 | |
| Hudner | 15.0 miles | 24 |
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 Paicines | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q7124638 | The 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.











