BlockBefore

Piedra, California

30 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1920 and the latest in 1982. It stands in the Sierra census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93657. It stands on Hughes Creek. The Survey maps it on the Piedra quadrangle. It stands 538 feet above sea level.

Piedra within Fresno County

Then and now

1920 to 1982

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 Piedra, surveyed 1982
Topographic sheet of Piedra, surveyed 1920

Compare 1920 against another survey:

Topographic sheets covering this place

15 surveys from 30 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

187 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 187 fires within 5 miles of Piedra between 1992 and 2020, burning about 4,648 acres in total. 7 started naturally. 19 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/undetermined74
Equipment and vehicle use63
Arson/incendiarism19
Debris and open burning9
Smoking7
Natural7
Power generation/transmission/distribution5
Recreation and ceremony2
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
8 September 2001Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreFresno-Kings UnitPULLIN
8 September 1999Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresFresno-Kings UnitELWOOD
7 September 1997Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreFresno-Kings UnitFKU 38417
7 September 1996Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFresno-Kings UnitPIEDRA
7 September 1995Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresFresno-Kings UnitWELDON
3 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined157 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionSUNNY
29 September 1995Smokingunder an acreFresno-Kings UnitPINE FLAT
28 September 2001Smoking5.0 acresFresno-Kings UnitFRANKWOOD

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Fresno County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 25 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 25 workings within 5 miles of Piedra: 8 occurrences, 7 past producers, 5 unknowns, 3 producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Magnesite, Chromium, Gold, 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
Prince ProspectManganeseProspect
Tivy Valley QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Gravel PitsSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Kings RiverSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
HinkleCopperOccurrence
HinkleCopperProspect
Post OakCopper, GoldPast ProducerVein
ApacheGoldOccurrence
Eliza JaneGoldPast Producer
IndependenceGoldOccurrence

Every working recorded in Fresno County

Storms near this place

14 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Piedra in 14 storm reports between 2002 and 2025: 6 debris flow, 6 flood, 1 thunderstorm wind, 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
May 2002Thunderstorm WindPiedra$50,000no account filed
January 2021Debris FlowPiedra$200California Highway Patrol reported a debris flow on Trimmer Springs Rd. near N. Piedra Rd. near Piedra. A sedan got two blown out tires due to the slide.
February 2025Debris FlowPiedra-California Highway Patrol reported a boulder in the westbound lanes on E. Trimmer Springs Rd.
January 2023FloodPiedra-Public report of several large boulders in the roadway on Trimmer Springs Rd. just west of |Piedra near Winton Park.
January 2023FloodPiedra-California Highway Patrol reported rocks washed up on the roadway at the intersection of N. Piedra Rd. and Elwood Rd.
March 2023FloodPiedra-California Highway Patrol reported Elwood Rd. flooded at N. Piedra Rd.
December 2022Debris FlowPiedra-California Highway Patrol reported a rockslide on the roadway at the intersection of E. Trimmer Springs Rd. and N. Piedra Rd.
December 2022FloodPiedra-California Highway Patrol reported rocks blocking the roadway at E. Trimmer Springs Rd. west of Pine Flat Lake.
December 2022FloodPiedra-California Highway Patrol reported boulders washed up onto Elwood Rd. near Pine Flat Lake.
December 2022Debris FlowPiedra-California Highway Patrol reported a mudslide and a large bouilder in the roadway at the intersection of Elwood Rd. and Pine Flat Rd.
December 2022Debris FlowPiedra-California Highway Patrol reported a 3 foot rock on the roadway at the intersection of E. Trimmer Springs Rd. and Sunnyslope Rd.
October 2021Flash FloodPiedra-California Highway Patrol reported a rockslide with boulders in the roadway at the intersection of East Trimmer Springs Rd. and North Piedra Rd. north of Piedra.
June 2019FloodPiedra-Fresno and Tulare County Emergency Managers reported flooding along the Kings River downstream from Pine Flat Dam as a result of increased releases prompted by increased runoff from snow melt and recent rainfall.
February 2017Debris FlowPiedra-California Highway Patrol reported a debris flow blocking both lanes on east Trimmer Springs Road near Piedra Road in Piedra.

Every storm recorded in Fresno 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
Avocado1.8 miles30
Gravesboro3.0 miles30
Oakhurst (historical)5.2 miles23
Elk7.2 miles30
Minkler7.2 miles23
Riverbend7.8 miles21
Trimmer8.0 miles30
Centerville8.1 miles23

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 PiedraAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q7191555The 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 1659384. 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.