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Hepler, Kansas

22 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1884 and the latest in 1991. It stands in Walnut Township. It lies in ZIP code area 66746. The Survey maps it on the Hepler quadrangle. 90 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,001 feet above sea level.

Hepler within Crawford County

Population over time

2 figures

Hepler fell from 132 to 90 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
2010132
202090-42 (-32%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

14 surveys from 22 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

8 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 8 fires within 5 miles of Hepler between 2015 and 2017, burning about 114 acres in total. None started naturally. None 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
Smoking4
Debris and open burning3
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
6 April 2017Debris and open burning1.0 acresBourbon County118
16 March 2015Smoking20 acresKansas Forest Service100
27 February 2016Smoking60 acresKansas Forest Service54
27 February 2016Smoking20 acresKansas Forest Service58
12 February 2017Debris and open burning5.0 acresBourbon County42
29 October 2015Smoking2.0 acresKansas Forest Service308
16 January 2015Equipment and vehicle use5.0 acresKansas Forest Service17
1 January 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreKansas Forest Service1

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Crawford County

Storms near this place

16 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Hepler in 16 storm reports between 1994 and 2026: 10 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 heavy rain, 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
February 2017Tornado (EF0)Hepler$50,000A National Weather Service storm survey revealed that an EF-1 tornado touched down approximately one mile southeast of Hepler, Kansas. The tornado destroyed one outbuilding and heavily damaging two other outbuildings. Several farm equipment items were also heavily damaged and thrown by the tornado. Estimated peak wind speed was 95 mph.
April 1994Thunderstorm WindHepler$500no account filed
April 2026HailHepler-Quarter sized hail was reported.
April 2017Flash FloodHepler-Numerous low water crossings were flooded in Crawford County. Locations which were flooded include 730th Ave near State Line Road and 700th Ave west of 250th.
April 2013Heavy RainHepler-A twenty four hour rainfall total of 4 inches was reported.
August 2012Thunderstorm WindHepler-Several power poles were reported leaning over near Hepler.
March 2011HailHepler-The public reported penny sized hail and it covered the ground.
April 2015HailHepler-no account filed
March 2008HailHepler-no account filed
March 2006HailHepler-no account filed
May 2004HailHepler-no account filed
August 2003HailHepler-no account filed
March 2003HailHepler-no account filed
March 2003HailHepler-no account filed
August 2001Thunderstorm WindHepler-no account filed
September 2000HailHepler-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Crawford 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
Brazilton7.0 miles22
Walnut7.1 miles21
Farlington8.0 miles22
Greenbush10.2 miles22
Cato12.1 miles24
Girard12.4 miles22
Dry Wood13.5 miles24
Englevale13.6 miles24

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 HeplerAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1936099The 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 474993. 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.