Belfry, Kentucky
19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1992. It stands in the South Williamson census division. It lies in ZIP code area 41514. It stands on Peg Branch. The Survey maps it on the Belfry quadrangle. 263 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 699 feet above sea level.
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 19 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.
- 1887 USGS Warfield quadrangle1:125000
- 1891 USGS Warfield quadrangle1:125000, 7 printings
- 1915 USGS Williamson quadrangle1:48000
- 1915 USGS Williamson quadrangle1:62500
- 1918 USGS Williamson quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1954 USGS Belfry quadrangle1:24000
- 1957 USGS Jenkins quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Jenkins quadrangle1:250000
- 1978 USGS Belfry quadrangle1:24000
- 1982 USGS Williamson quadrangle1:100000
- 1992 USGS Belfry quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
165 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 165 fires within 5 miles of Belfry between 1992 and 2020, burning about 15,656 acres in total. None started naturally. 40 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 | 65 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 40 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 29 |
| Fireworks | 12 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 10 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 3 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 September 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | BALL FORK |
| 29 September 2007 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 28 September 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | STONE |
| 25 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 acres | West Virginia Division of Forestry | not named |
| 22 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | GOODY |
| 13 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | LOFTIS MANSION |
| 13 August 2008 | Recreation and ceremony | 1.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 13 August 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | West Virginia Division of Forestry | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
21 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Belfry in 21 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 10 thunderstorm wind, 6 flash flood, 3 hail, 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 1996 | Flash Flood | Belfry | $1,000,000 | no account filed |
| January 2022 | Flash Flood | Belfry | $200,000 | Water is reported to be in homes in the Belfry Community. Water rescues are about to be performed. |
| January 2022 | Flash Flood | Belfry | $50,000 | Reports of flooding in the community of Belfry. Belfry Middle School is inundated with water. |
| April 2007 | Flash Flood | Belfry | $50,000 | Evacuation of several residents on Hatcher Street in Belfrey. Evacuation of residents of Octavia Hollow in the Stone area of Highway 199. |
| June 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belfry | $20,000 | Straight line winds blew the metal roof off of an auto sales building in Belfry. |
| June 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belfry | $15,000 | Strong winds blew down several trees and powerlines in the Forest Hills area. Tree damage occurred at KY Governor Paul Patton's home which had to be removed from the street. A storage building lost its roof and the debris was scattered 100 feet. A radio tower owned by the John's Creek Fire Department was damaged. This tower also had some of the Appalachian Pager equipment on it which was also damaged. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belfry | $5,000 | Thunderstorm wind gusts caused the roof to collapse at the Belfry Speedway service station. |
| April 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belfry | $2,000 | Large tree limbs were blown down in Belfry. |
| March 2015 | Flood | Belfry | $1,000 | Flood water was covering KY 319 near Southside Elementary school. |
| December 2013 | Flood | Belfry | $1,000 | About 3 feet of water was over the road in the back alley of Belfry. This was the result of a low lying area along Pond Creek, where the creek had come out of its banks. |
| August 2012 | Flash Flood | Belfry | $1,000 | Water was flowing over Church House Hollow Rd. |
| May 2025 | Hail | Belfry | - | A picture of hail estimated to be around the size of a golf ball was sent in from the town of Belfry. |
| May 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belfry | - | Trees were reported to have been downed across the Belfry community. |
| July 2022 | Flash Flood | Belfry | - | Pond Creek was out of its banks and flowing across the back alley at Belfry Middle School. |
| December 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belfry | - | A tree was blown down on KY 1056 on Ball Fork in Belfry. |
| May 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belfry | - | A tree was blown down and was blocking Hwy 319. |
| March 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belfry | - | A few trees were blown down and nickel size hail also fell. |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belfry | - | Trees were down onto power lines on Pond Road or Kentucky Highway 199. |
| June 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belfry | - | Trees down. |
| January 1999 | Hail | Belfry | - | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Hail | Belfry | - | no account filed |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sharondale | 0.7 miles | 19 | |
| Narrows Branch (historical) | 1.3 miles | 24 | |
| Hardy | 1.3 miles | 24 | |
| Toler | 1.5 miles | 23 | |
| Road Fork (historical) | 1.6 miles | 23 | |
| Forest Hills | 1.8 miles | 23 | |
| Huddy | 1.8 miles | 19 | |
| Stone | 2.4 miles | 19 |
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 Belfry | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q4882389 | 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 486781. 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.










