West Bay, Florida

18 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1943 and the latest in 1994. It stands in the Southport census division. It lies in ZIP code area 32413. It stands on Ward Creek. The Survey maps it on the West Bay quadrangle.

West Bay within Bay County

Then and now

1943 to 1994

The same ground, surveyed 51 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of West Bay, surveyed 1994

Topographic sheet of West Bay, surveyed 1943

Compare 1943 against another survey:

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 18 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.

1943 USGS West Bay quadrangle1:24000
1944 USGS West Bay quadrangle1:24000
1944 USGS West Bay quadrangle1:31680, 3 printings
1954 USGS Tallahassee quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
1959 USGS Tallahassee quadrangle1:250000
1960 USGS Tallahassee quadrangle1:250000
1981 USGS Panama City quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
1982 USGS West Bay quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
1988 USGS Tallahassee quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
1994 USGS West Bay quadrangle1:24000

Fires near this place

136 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 136 fires within 5 miles of West Bay between 1992 and 2020, burning about 2,617 acres in total. 41 started naturally. 15 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
Natural	41
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	29
Debris and open burning	17
Arson/incendiarism	15
Equipment and vehicle use	13
Railroad operations and maintenance	8
Misuse of fire by a minor	6
Smoking	4
Recreation and ceremony	2
Other causes	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
7 September 1992	Natural	60 acres	Florida Forest Service	not named
5 September 2008	Arson/incendiarism	1.0 acres	Florida Forest Service	03/#3 S POWERLINE-0593
5 September 2008	Arson/incendiarism	2.0 acres	Florida Forest Service	03/#1 E.HWY 79-0591
25 September 2016	Natural	25 acres	Florida Forest Service	SIDE CAMP RD (03)
20 September 2010	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	10 acres	Florida Forest Service	03/ PALMETTO TRACE-0542
17 September 2015	Arson/incendiarism	3.0 acres	Florida Forest Service	POWERLINE RD (03)
15 September 1997	Equipment and vehicle use	2.0 acres	Florida Forest Service	not named
12 September 1999	Natural	5.0 acres	Florida Forest Service	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Bay 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.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Laird	3.5 miles	16
Laguna Beach	5.0 miles	16
Gulf Resort Beach	5.0 miles	16
Sunnyside	5.5 miles	16
Hollywood Beach	5.8 miles	16
Open Sands	6.0 miles	17
Bid-A-Wee	6.2 miles	17
Florida Beach	6.3 miles	17

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 307690. 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.