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Alva, Florida

13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1956 and the latest in 1987. It stands in the Fort Myers Shores census division. It lies in ZIP code area 33920. It stands on Bedman Creek. The Survey maps it on the Alva quadrangle. 2,725 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 16 feet above sea level.

Alva within Lee County

Then and now

1956 to 1987

The same ground, surveyed 31 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Alva, surveyed 1987
Topographic sheet of Alva, surveyed 1956

On record in Alva

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 1 record

Population over time

3 figures

Alva grew from 2,182 to 2,725 between 2000 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
20002,182
20102,596+414 (+19%)
20202,725+129 (+5%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 13 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

289 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 289 fires within 5 miles of Alva between 1992 and 2020, burning about 3,957 acres in total. 67 started naturally. 29 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
Natural67
Railroad operations and maintenance53
Missing data/not specified/undetermined52
Equipment and vehicle use32
Arson/incendiarism29
Debris and open burning20
Misuse of fire by a minor14
Power generation/transmission/distribution11
Recreation and ceremony4
Smoking4
Fireworks3

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
5 September 2002Natural5.0 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named
18 September 1992Naturalunder an acreFlorida Forest Servicenot named
1 September 2018Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreFlorida Forest ServiceIRVING (36)
8 August 1999Natural1.0 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named
6 August 2015Missing data/not specified/undetermined4.0 acresFlorida Forest ServiceLOFT (26)
31 August 2003Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresFlorida Forest Service2003-17-1102
3 August 1999Naturalunder an acreFlorida Forest Servicenot named
3 August 1996Naturalunder an acreFlorida Forest Servicenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Lee County

Mines and quarries near this place

5 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Alva: 5 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Limestone, General. 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
Fugate Constr. - Number One MineLimestone, GeneralProducerLimestone
Alva PitStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Fugate Mine No. 1Stone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Labelle Limerock PitStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Pit 12-026Stone, Crushed/BrokenProducer

Every working recorded in Lee County

Storms near this place

5 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Alva in 5 storm reports between 1999 and 2025: 4 hail, 1 tornado. 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
January 2011Tornado (EF0)Alva$100,000Six mobile homes were damaged or destroyed near Alva along Basil, Dill, Cork, and Elder Streets. The mobile homes suffered porch damage, broken screens, roof damage, and a carport was destroyed. Emergency Management found a narrow path of damage, and time is estimated off of radar.
May 2025HailAlva-Broadcast media relayed public video of hailstones approximately 1 inch in diameter falling at residence near 15th Street and Joel Boulevard.
July 2000HailAlva-Golfball sized hail was reported by the public, through WINK-TV of Ft. Myers, in Alva.
May 1999HailAlva-Golfball sized hail was reported by the public through Ft Myers television station WZVN.
June 2018HailAlva-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Lee 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
Charleston Park1.7 miles13
Telegraph Estates4.3 miles13
Olga5.4 miles13
Lehigh Acres6.3 miles13
Buckingham7.0 miles13
Verandah7.1 miles13
Fort Myers Shores7.2 miles13
Morse Shores10.2 miles14

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 AlvaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q448123The 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 277830. 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.