BlockBefore

Balm, Florida

16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1921 and the latest in 1988. It stands in the Wimauma-Riverview census division. It lies in ZIP code area 33598. The Survey maps it on the Riverview quadrangle. 6,541 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 131 feet above sea level.

Balm within Hillsborough County

Then and now

1921 to 1988

The same ground, surveyed 67 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Balm, surveyed 1988
Topographic sheet of Balm, surveyed 1921

Population over time

2 figures

Balm grew from 1,457 to 6,541 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
20101,457
20206,541+5,084 (+349%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 16 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

164 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 164 fires within 5 miles of Balm between 1992 and 2020, burning about 3,642 acres in total. 40 started naturally. 20 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
Natural40
Railroad operations and maintenance31
Missing data/not specified/undetermined25
Arson/incendiarism20
Equipment and vehicle use15
Debris and open burning14
Misuse of fire by a minor7
Recreation and ceremony6
Power generation/transmission/distribution3
Smoking3

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 2014Natural1.6 acresFlorida Forest ServiceMC GRADY RD. (29)
17 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.5 acresFlorida Forest Service29 ROCKLEDGE 2
16 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresFlorida Forest Service29 DELIA 2
13 September 2005Debris and open burning2.0 acresFlorida Forest Service29 DELIA
5 August 2005Natural20 acresFlorida Forest Service29 SESAME STREET
20 August 2016Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresFlorida Forest ServiceSILVER CREEK (29)
2 August 1999Railroad operations and maintenance20 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named
9 July 2000Natural30 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Hillsborough 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 Balm: 2 unknowns, 2 producers, 1 prospect. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Uranium, Iron, Magnesite, Aluminum, Water, Free, Fluorine-Fluorite, Aluminum, Fluorine-Fluorite, Magnesite, Uranium, Water, Free, Iron. 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
Boyette-FishhawkPhosphorus-Phosphates, Aluminum, Fluorine-Fluorite, Magnesite, Uranium, Water, Free, IronProspect
Farmland Hillsborough ReservePhosphorus-Phosphates, Uranium, Iron, Magnesite, Aluminum, Water, Free, Fluorine-FluoriteUnknown1930
Hurley Enterprises, Inc. - Hurley Tailwater RecSandProducer
Phillips and Jordan - Rhodine Rode PitSandProducer
The Cone Corp. - Balm Road MineSandUnknownSand

Every working recorded in Hillsborough County

Storms near this place

3 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Balm in 3 storm reports between 1999 and 2018: 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 flood, 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
July 2009FloodBalm$75,000The river stage on the Little Manatee River near Wimauma reached 14.15 feet during the evening of July 2nd. Flood stage is 11 feet. The flooding was a result of two days of heavy rain. The total rainfall at the National Weather Service in Ruskin from June 30 through July 1 was 4.53 inches. Fire Rescue reported Owens Road was washed away in the area of the river and numerous roads were inaccessible due to flooding. The damage amount listed is a rough estimate of the road damage.
December 2018Tornado (EF1)Balm$10,000Tree damage and minor structural damage was found in the vicinity of Carlton Lake Road and Florida 674.
May 1999Thunderstorm WindBalm$1,000Amateur Ham radio operators reported that two large trees were downed by thunderstorm winds near the intersection of County Road 672 and Balm Boyette Road.

Every storm recorded in Hillsborough 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
Wimauma3.8 miles14
Boyette4.5 miles12
Sun City Center5.6 miles14
Fish Hawk6.8 miles12
North Ruskin7.1 miles18
Fort Lonesome7.2 miles12
Adamsville7.5 miles18
Lithia7.8 miles12

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 BalmAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q4852326The 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 294664. 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.