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Plainsburg, California

16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1919 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the Planada-Le Grand census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95341. It stands on Mariposa Creek. The Survey maps it on the Plainsburg quadrangle. It stands 220 feet above sea level.

Plainsburg within Merced County

Then and now

1919 to 1983

The same ground, surveyed 64 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Plainsburg, surveyed 1983
Topographic sheet of Plainsburg, surveyed 1919

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 16 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

796 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 796 fires within 5 miles of Plainsburg between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,219 acres in total. None started naturally. 65 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/undetermined469
Equipment and vehicle use134
Debris and open burning76
Arson/incendiarism65
Smoking31
Misuse of fire by a minor16
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Recreation and ceremony2
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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 2013Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresMerced-Mariposa UnitSANTA FE
9 September 1992Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMerced-Mariposa UnitBROCCO
8 September 2018Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionATHLONE
8 September 2016Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionWHEALAN
7 September 2020Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMerced-Mariposa UnitWASHINGTON AV LEGRAND
7 September 2017Arson/incendiarismunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionPLAINSBURG
7 September 2016Arson/incendiarismunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionCHILDS
7 September 2013Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMerced-Mariposa UnitSANTE FE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Merced County

Storms near this place

1 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Plainsburg in 1 storm report in 1998: 1 funnel cloud. 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
March 1998Funnel CloudPlainsburg-Hail less than 3/4" in diameter and funnel reported by Merced County Sheriff.

Every storm recorded in Merced 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
Athlone2.5 miles16
Burchell (historical)2.8 miles15
Lingard3.9 miles14
Planada4.0 miles15
La Branza (historical)4.0 miles16
Le Grand4.0 miles16
Calpack4.6 miles15
Tuttle5.2 miles16

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 PlainsburgAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q7200746The 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 1659404. 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.

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.