BlockSurprise, Indiana
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1956 and the latest in 1990. It stands in Hamilton Township. It lies in ZIP code area 47274. The Survey maps it on the Brownstown quadrangle. It stands 581 feet above sea level.
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 13 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.
- 1956 USGS Vincennes quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1957 USGS Vincennes quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Brownstown quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Vincennes quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1986 USGS Bedford quadrangle1:100000
- 1990 USGS Bedford quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
10 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 10 fires within 5 miles of Surprise between 1992 and 2010, burning about 59 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 8 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 April 2008 | Debris and open burning | 4.0 acres | Hoosier National Forest | CONSERVATION CLUB |
| 7 March 2009 | Debris and open burning | 1.5 acres | Hoosier National Forest | SAWMILL FIRE |
| 31 March 1998 | Debris and open burning | 27 acres | Hoosier National Forest | LITTLE PONDEROSA |
| 27 March 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 10 acres | Hoosier National Forest | CALLAHAM FIRE |
| 24 March 2003 | Debris and open burning | 4.5 acres | Hoosier National Forest | CONSERVATION FIRE |
| 24 March 2003 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Hoosier National Forest | FREETOWN |
| 22 March 2009 | Debris and open burning | 4.0 acres | Hoosier National Forest | SPRAYTOWN FIRE |
| 1 March 1992 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Hoosier National Forest | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
2 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Surprise in 2 storm reports between 1997 and 2008: 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood. The reports record 1 injury. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Surprise | 1 hurt, $100,000 | no account filed |
| May 2008 | Flash Flood | Surprise | $30,000 | State Road 258 between Base Line Road and County Road 100 East was flooded due to heavy rain. County Road 1040 East was also closed between County Road 340 North and County Road 400 North. Vehicles were stuck in both locations, requiring law enforcement to assist in rescues. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acme | 0.5 miles | 13 | |
| Spraytown | 3.2 miles | 20 | |
| Freetown | 3.7 miles | 16 | |
| Shields | 4.8 miles | 13 | |
| Cortland | 5.0 miles | 10 | |
| New Elizabethtown | 5.3 miles | 10 | |
| Ewing | 5.9 miles | 13 | |
| Brownstown | 6.4 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 Surprise | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q7646563 | 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 444436. 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.