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.
Then and now
1919 to 1983The 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 sheets covering this place
10 surveys from 16 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.
- 1919 USGS Plainsberg quadrangle1:31680
- 1942 USGS Athlone quadrangle1:62500
- 1947 USGS Plainsburg quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1947 USGS San Jose quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS San Jose quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Chowchilla quadrangle1:62500
- 1960 USGS Plainsburg quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1962 USGS San Jose quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1966 USGS San Jose quadrangle1:250000
- 1983 USGS Merced quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
796 since 1992Regional 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/undetermined | 469 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 134 |
| Debris and open burning | 76 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 65 |
| Smoking | 31 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 16 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 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 2013 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Merced-Mariposa Unit | SANTA FE |
| 9 September 1992 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Merced-Mariposa Unit | BROCCO |
| 8 September 2018 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | ATHLONE |
| 8 September 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | WHEALAN |
| 7 September 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Merced-Mariposa Unit | WASHINGTON AV LEGRAND |
| 7 September 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | PLAINSBURG |
| 7 September 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | CHILDS |
| 7 September 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Merced-Mariposa Unit | SANTE FE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
1 since 1998Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 1998 | Funnel Cloud | Plainsburg | - | Hail less than 3/4" in diameter and funnel reported by Merced County Sheriff. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Athlone | 2.5 miles | 16 | |
| Burchell (historical) | 2.8 miles | 15 | |
| Lingard | 3.9 miles | 14 | |
| Planada | 4.0 miles | 15 | |
| La Branza (historical) | 4.0 miles | 16 | |
| Le Grand | 4.0 miles | 16 | |
| Calpack | 4.6 miles | 15 | |
| Tuttle | 5.2 miles | 16 |
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 Plainsburg | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q7200746 | 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 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.









