BlockBefore

Philo, California

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1943 and the latest in 1991. It stands in the Mendocino census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95466. It stands on Indian Creek. The Survey maps it on the Philo quadrangle. 319 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 331 feet above sea level.

Philo within Mendocino County

Then and now

1943 to 1991

The same ground, surveyed 48 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Philo, surveyed 1991
Topographic sheet of Philo, surveyed 1943

Compare 1943 against another survey:

Population over time

2 figures

Philo fell from 349 to 319 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
2010349
2020319-30 (-9%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 12 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

136 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 136 fires within 5 miles of Philo between 1992 and 2018, burning about 1,688 acres in total. 10 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/undetermined39
Equipment and vehicle use30
Debris and open burning26
Arson/incendiarism11
Natural10
Misuse of fire by a minor7
Recreation and ceremony6
Smoking3
Power generation/transmission/distribution3
Railroad operations and maintenance1

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 2013Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreMendocino UnitCOLD SPRINGS FIRE LOOKO 3
9 September 2002Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMendocino UnitHENDY
7 September 2000Equipment and vehicle use1.5 acresMendocino UnitPAC BELL
6 September 2001Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMendocino UnitMAPLE
6 September 1993Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMendocino UnitNASH
30 September 2017Debris and open burningunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionBLATTNER RD PHILO
3 September 2003Naturalunder an acreMendocino UnitCHURCH OF CHRIST
29 September 1996Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMendocino UnitSIGNAL #2

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Mendocino County

Mines and quarries near this place

4 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Philo: 2 occurrences, 2 unknowns. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Copper, Mercury, Gold, Platinum, Iridium, Zirconium, Mercury, Zirconium, Gold, Iridium, Platinum. 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
Anderson ValleyMercury, Zirconium, Gold, Iridium, PlatinumUnknown
Anderson Valley PlacerMercury, Gold, Platinum, Iridium, ZirconiumOccurrenceStream Placer
WhippleCopperOccurrenceCopper
Whipple ProspectCopperUnknown

Every working recorded in Mendocino County

Storms near this place

2 since 2018

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Philo in 2 storm reports between 2018 and 2025: 2 heavy rain. 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 2025Heavy RainPhilo$1,000Redwood tree fell across Philo Greenwood road with 3-5 inches of rainfall recorded at local gauges within 24 hours, 3 miles southwest of Philo, CA. Lat. 39.04N, Long. -123.47W.
April 2018Heavy RainPhilo-Estimated 2.5 inches of rain. Report of water over roadway with numerous vehicles hydroplaning.

Every storm recorded in Mendocino 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
Hendy Grove1.2 miles12
Philbrick Mill2.9 miles12
Reilly Heights4.8 miles15
Boonville5.7 miles12
Old Bailey Place7.3 miles12
Navarro7.9 miles15
Little Penny9.9 miles15
Cape Horn11.2 miles17

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 PhiloAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3476094The 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 1659380. 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.