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Trabuco Canyon, California

37 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1901 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the Silverado census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92678. It lies near Hickey Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Santiago Peak quadrangle. 1,020 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,040 feet above sea level.

Trabuco Canyon within Orange County

Then and now

1901 to 1997

The same ground, surveyed 96 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Trabuco Canyon, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet of Trabuco Canyon, surveyed 1901

Compare 1901 against another survey:

Topographic sheets covering this place

14 surveys from 37 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

86 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 86 fires within 5 miles of Trabuco Canyon between 1992 and 2019, burning about 24,105 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 16 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/undetermined29
Arson/incendiarism16
Recreation and ceremony15
Equipment and vehicle use11
Smoking5
Misuse of fire by a minor4
Natural3
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Fireworks1

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 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresOrange County Fire Authoritynot named
7 September 2006Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCleveland National ForestLIVEOAK
3 September 2005Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreCleveland National ForestPOOL
26 September 2005Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCleveland National ForestDOVE
26 September 1993Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCleveland National ForestTRABUCO
23 September 2012Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreCleveland National ForestTRABUCO
2 September 1997Equipment and vehicle use600 acresCleveland National ForestSANTIAGO
16 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Orange County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 19 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 19 workings within 5 miles of Trabuco Canyon: 8 past producers, 6 producers, 2 prospects, 2 occurrences. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Clay, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gold, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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
Baker Ranch ExtensionStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Hicks Canyon ProspectFire Clay (Refractory)Occurrence
Platz QuarryKaolinProducer
Wilhunt MinesLead, Gold, SilverPast Producer
Santa Ana MinesGoldProspect
Shirley MineGoldProspect
El Toro PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Gravel PitsSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Ike Arnold Mine and Washing PlantClay, Sand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Bell Canyon ProspectClayOccurrence

Every working recorded in Orange County

Storms near this place

7 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Trabuco Canyon in 7 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 4 heavy rain, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 debris flow, 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
February 2025Heavy RainTrabuco Canyon-Mesonet station SDOC1 Silverado Canyon reported a total precipitation of 5.16 inches.
February 2024Heavy RainTrabuco Canyon-Heavy rain fell across much of Orange County on February 1st and 2nd. Rainfall totals generally ranged from 1-2 inches, with totals between 2.00-2.50 inches occurring in portions of the Santa Ana Mountains in Orange County.
October 2021Heavy RainTrabuco Canyon-Moderate to heavy rain fell across the region. Santiago Peak reported 1.40 inches of rain in total, with a max hourly rainfall rate of one half inch.
March 2019Funnel CloudTrabuco Canyon-Public reported a funnel cloud in Perris on March 3rd around 1245 PST.
November 2018Debris FlowTrabuco Canyon-Media reported major debris flow in Trabuco Canyon. The debris flow appeared to be mainly comprised of very little water and mostly mud/rocks.
November 2018Heavy RainTrabuco Canyon-Santiago Peak 2 mesonet reported a 24-hr rain total of 3.24 inches.
August 1998Thunderstorm WindTrabuco Canyon-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Orange 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
Robinson Ranch1.3 miles37
Rancho Trabuco1.3 miles37
Rancho Santa Margarita1.6 miles37
Portola Hills2.5 miles47
Dove Canyon2.5 miles37
Upper Aliso2.6 miles37
Trabuco Highlands3.5 miles42
Modjeska3.7 miles47

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 Trabuco CanyonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3474916The 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 1661581. 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.