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Rifle, Colorado

20 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1906 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Rifle census division. It lies in ZIP code area 81650. It stands on Rifle Creek. The Survey maps it on the Rifle quadrangle. 10,437 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 5,348 feet above sea level.

Research this city

Rifle within Garfield County

On record in Rifle

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 3 records

Population over time

2 figures

Rifle grew from 9,172 to 10,437 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
20109,172
202010,437+1,265 (+14%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 20 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

244 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 244 fires within 5 miles of Rifle between 1992 and 2020, burning about 279 acres in total. 145 started naturally. 2 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
Natural145
Missing data/not specified/undetermined63
Recreation and ceremony14
Equipment and vehicle use5
Smoking5
Debris and open burning5
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Arson/incendiarism2
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Fireworks1
Firearms and explosives use1

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 2019Naturalunder an acreNorthwest District, Grand JunctionHELMER GULCH
8 September 2019Naturalunder an acreNorthwest District, Grand JunctionRAMSEY
7 September 2000Naturalunder an acreNorthwest District, Grand Junction320 ROAD
6 September 2007Naturalunder an acreNorthwest District, Grand JunctionANDERSON POINT
6 September 1997Naturalunder an acreNorthwest District, Grand JunctionHUBBARD 3
6 September 1995Naturalunder an acreNorthwest District, Grand JunctionHUBBARD 3
5 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado River Fire RescueUNKNOWN
5 September 1993Naturalunder an acreNorthwest District, Grand JunctionYELLOW SLI

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Garfield County

Mines and quarries near this place

6 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Rifle: 3 producers, 2 past producers, 1 unknown. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Uranium, Vanadium, Vanadium, Uranium. 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
Rifle MillVanadium, UraniumProducer
Rifle MineUranium, VanadiumPast Producer1909, 1924
Chambers PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Rifle PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Unknown Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Unknown Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown

Every working recorded in Garfield County

Storms near this place

32 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Rifle in 32 storm reports between 1997 and 2023: 9 flash flood, 6 heavy rain, 5 flood, 4 thunderstorm wind. The reports record 2 deaths. 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
July 2003LightningRifle2 killedno account filed
July 2002Flash FloodRifle$158,000no account filed
August 2002Flash FloodRifle$100,000no account filed
August 1997Flash FloodRifle$80,000no account filed
July 2005Flash FloodRifle$10,000no account filed
August 2023FloodRifle$5,000Heavy rain from thunderstorms flooded a basement at the intersection of 5th Street and Ute Avenue in Rifle.
July 2021Flash FloodRifle$5,000Heavy rain resulted in urban flash flooding south-southwest of Rifle. A trained weather spotter reported gutters overflowing and flooding on roadways.
August 1999Flash FloodRifle$5,000no account filed
August 2003LightningRifle$3,000no account filed
August 2023FloodRifle-Heavy rain from thunderstorms led to 6 inches of water flowing over 12th Street and Park Avenue in Rifle.
July 2017Debris FlowRifle-Colorado Highway 325 was closed in both directions north of Rifle after heavy rainfall resulted in a mudslide. Law enforcement personnel estimated a foot of mud was across the road.
July 2017Heavy RainRifle-Water runoff from heavy rain flowed across portions of County Roads 233 and 252 near Rifle Creek. Radar estimated rainfall near those locations ranged from about an inch to an inch and a half.
August 2017Debris FlowRifle-Colorado Highway 325 was closed in both directions in Rifle Gap between mile markers 6 and 8 due to a mudslide and flooding as a result of heavy rains. The Highway reopened 4 hours later.
August 2017Heavy RainRifle-Flooding from Government Creek was reported to be impacting a residence near mile marker 8 along Colorado Highway 13 as a result of heavy rains.
September 2014Flash FloodRifle-A section of Colorado Highway 325 was closed due flash flooding which deposited a significant amount of mud and debris onto the roadway.
June 2010HailRifle-Hail up to 1.0 inch in diameter was reported in Rifle.
August 2010Heavy RainRifle-Heavy rainfall caused mud and rocks to slide across Highway 13, blocking the Highway north of Rifle between mile markers 7 and 10.
August 2008Flash FloodRifle-A six foot wall of water roared down Government Creek which normally runs no deeper than a trickle in August.
July 2010Thunderstorm WindRifle-no account filed
July 2006Heavy RainRifle-no account filed
August 2003HailRifle-no account filed
July 2003Heavy RainRifle-no account filed
September 2002Thunderstorm WindRifle-no account filed
May 2002Thunderstorm WindRifle-no account filed
July 2002FloodRifle-no account filed
August 2001FloodRifle-no account filed
September 2001HailRifle-no account filed
August 2001FloodRifle-no account filed
May 2000Thunderstorm WindRifle-no account filed
July 1998WildfireRifle-no account filed
September 1998Heavy RainRifle-no account filed
September 1997Flash FloodRifle-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Garfield 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
Antlers3.0 miles20
Silt6.8 miles20
Anvil Points7.5 miles23
Rulison8.7 miles13
New Castle13.3 miles20
Battlement Mesa14.3 miles16
Parachute15.4 miles16
Chacra18.0 miles20

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 RifleAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2273536The 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 174045. 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.