BlockBear Branch, Kentucky
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1891 and the latest in 1979. It stands in the Hyden census division. It lies in ZIP code area 41714. It stands on Bear Branch. The Survey maps it on the Big Creek quadrangle. It stands 869 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.
- 1891 USGS Manchester quadrangle1:125000, 7 printings
- 1953 USGS Big Creek quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Jenkins quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Jenkins quadrangle1:250000
- 1977 USGS Hazard quadrangle1:100000
- 1979 USGS Big Creek quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
162 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 162 fires within 5 miles of Bear Branch between 1992 and 2020, burning about 5,324 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 88 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 |
|---|---|
| Arson/incendiarism | 88 |
| Debris and open burning | 40 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 3 |
| Natural | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Daniel Boone National Forest | DRY |
| 26 September 2007 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 25 September 2007 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Daniel Boone National Forest | TIRES |
| 24 September 2019 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Daniel Boone National Forest | SUGAR |
| 17 September 2001 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Daniel Boone National Forest | TREE |
| 15 September 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 5.0 acres | Daniel Boone National Forest | GARCIA |
| 7 August 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Daniel Boone National Forest | PEABODY HOUSE |
| 29 August 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Daniel Boone National Forest | SUGAR |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
7 since 2003Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Bear Branch in 7 storm reports between 2003 and 2021: 2 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 2 flash flood, 1 flood. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2016 | Flash Flood | Bear Branch | $20,000 | Broadcast media relayed reports of swiftly flowing water across U.S. Highway 421 near Big Creek and Bear Branch. A few homes and a church in the Big Creek area were also being threatened by these flood waters. |
| February 2021 | Flood | Bear Branch | $15,000 | A public report was posted via local broadcast media's social media. The picture showed flood waters up to the steps of a home in the Bear Branch community. |
| July 2015 | Flash Flood | Bear Branch | $1,000 | Flood waters were entering and surrounding peoples homes at Bear Branch. |
| July 2014 | Hail | Bear Branch | - | Baseball size hail was observed in Bear Branch. |
| July 2014 | Hail | Bear Branch | - | Softball size hail was observed in Bear Branch. |
| November 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bear Branch | - | A tree fell across Highway 66N. |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bear Branch | - | One tree was down. |
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.
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 Bear Branch | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q14690068 | 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 510440. 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.