Sparks, Georgia
8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1988. It stands in the Adel-Sparks census division. It lies in ZIP code area 31647. It stands on Giddens Mill Creek. The Survey maps it on the Adel quadrangle. 2,043 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 240 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresSparks fell from 2,052 to 2,043 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 | 2,052 | |
| 2020 | 2,043 | -9 (-0%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 8 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.
- 1953 USGS Waycross quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Waycross quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1973 USGS Adel quadrangle1:24000
- 1979 USGS Moultrie quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1988 USGS Waycross quadrangle1:250000
Photographs
1 photograph, 1977Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.
Adler, Thomas A, 1977. Library of Congress
Fires near this place
671 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 671 fires within 5 miles of Sparks between 1992 and 2020, burning about 2,844 acres in total. 15 started naturally. 56 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 462 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 81 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 56 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 26 |
| Natural | 15 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 11 |
| Smoking | 9 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 7 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 4 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 1998 | Debris and open burning | 2.1 acres | Georgia Forestry Commission | not named |
| 9 September 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.5 acres | Georgia Forestry Commission | not named |
| 9 September 1997 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Georgia Forestry Commission | not named |
| 9 September 1995 | Debris and open burning | 6.5 acres | Georgia Forestry Commission | not named |
| 7 September 1999 | Natural | under an acre | Georgia Forestry Commission | not named |
| 6 September 1995 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Georgia Forestry Commission | not named |
| 30 September 2003 | Debris and open burning | 7.3 acres | Georgia Forestry Commission | not named |
| 30 September 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Georgia Forestry Commission | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Sparks: 1 unknown. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Phosphorus-Phosphates. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adel Milling Co/ Adel, Ga. | Phosphorus-Phosphates | Unknown |
Storms near this place
4 since 2013Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sparks in 4 storm reports between 2013 and 2023: 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2023 | Tornado (EF2) | Sparks | $500,000 | The tornado began just west of Interstate-75 before crossing through portions of Adel, GA in Cook County. The first significant structural damage consistent with EF2 intensity was done to a single-family home-style building on W Mitchell St between I-75 and N Elm St. Half of the structure was shifted off its slab and bolted foundation. Adjacent mini trailers were also flipped in addition to sheets of metal lofted about a hundred feet from the property. The second location of EF2 damage was off US-Highway 41 and South Ave near Carr Dr where a large metal structure building was shifted off its bolted foundation. Some steel beams were also ripped off with a couple lofted to a nearby residential area. Multiple large trees on the property had their trunks snapped, while others were uprooted. Numerous damaged/fallen trees, some uprooted, had snapped and twisted trunks in a residential neighborhood along Kent Dr. Several of these trees fell on top of a few homes. The damages in that area were consistent with EF1 intensity. Continued tree damage was observed throughout the east side of the county along with a series of knocked over centerline irrigation pivots. The tornado then destroyed a motorhome and snapped several trees along Joiner Rd before lifting near the Cook County/Berrien County border. Max winds were estimated at 115 mph. |
| May 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sparks | $3,000 | A roof was blown off a small shed and multiple trees were blown down. |
| August 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sparks | - | A tree was blown down on McCranie Road in Sparks. |
| March 2013 | Hail | Sparks | - | Quarter size hail covered the ground. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adel | 2.2 miles | 8 | |
| Berrien (historical) | 3.0 miles | 8 | |
| Laconte | 3.3 miles | 8 | |
| Barneyville | 3.4 miles | 8 | |
| Barnesdale | 3.7 miles | 8 | |
| Nola (historical) | 3.8 miles | 8 | |
| Massee | 4.5 miles | 8 | |
| Heartpine (historical) | 4.8 miles | 8 |
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 Sparks | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3260729 | 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 333097. 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.




