Vilas, Colorado
14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1996. It stands in the Springfield census division. It lies in ZIP code area 81087. The Survey maps it on the Vilas South quadrangle. 98 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,154 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresVilas fell from 114 to 98 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 114 | |
| 2020 | 98 | -16 (-14%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 14 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.
- 1892 USGS Vilas quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1955 USGS La Junta quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS La Junta quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1968 USGS La Junta quadrangle1:250000
- 1978 USGS Vilas South quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Springfield quadrangle1:100000
- 1996 USGS Vilas South quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
19 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 19 fires within 5 miles of Vilas between 1994 and 2018, burning about 960 acres in total. 1 started naturally. None was 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 | 12 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
| Natural | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 1 |
| Fireworks | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 August 1994 | Natural | 1.0 acres | Pike and San Isabel National Forest | not named |
| 4 July 2010 | Fireworks | 15 acres | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 21 July 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 21 July 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 acres | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 12 June 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 6 May 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 8 April 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 12 April 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Walsh Fire Department | UNKNOWN |
Storms near this place
14 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Vilas in 14 storm reports between 1996 and 2019: 7 hail, 4 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 1 flash flood. The reports record 1 death. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Vilas | 1 killed, $30,000 | High end EF1 damage occurred with a very compact microburst. A manufactured home was completely destroyed, along with three power poles. |
| May 2019 | Hail | Vilas | - | Large hail reported by by the public outside of Vilas, CO. |
| August 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Vilas | - | Public reported several downed power poles, snapped in half, numerous large tree branches on the ground, and a large BBQ grill thrown several yards. |
| May 2015 | Tornado (EF0) | Vilas | - | A landspout moved across open country, narrowly missing a ranch, and caused no damage. |
| May 2010 | Hail | Vilas | - | no account filed |
| June 2009 | Hail | Vilas | - | no account filed |
| June 2004 | Hail | Vilas | - | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Hail | Vilas | - | no account filed |
| May 2002 | Hail | Vilas | - | no account filed |
| July 2002 | Hail | Vilas | - | no account filed |
| July 1998 | Flash Flood | Vilas | - | no account filed |
| June 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Vilas | - | no account filed |
| June 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Vilas | - | no account filed |
| June 1996 | Tornado (F0) | Vilas | - | no account filed |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walsh | 8.9 miles | 13 | |
| Springfield | 9.2 miles | 13 | |
| Two Buttes | 13.2 miles | 14 | |
| Stonington | 14.8 miles | 13 | |
| Liberty | 15.4 miles | 16 | |
| Bartlett | 16.5 miles | 13 | |
| Campo | 19.8 miles | 14 | |
| Midway | 20.7 miles | 13 |
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 Vilas | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q979540 | 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 203869. 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.






