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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.

Belfry within Pike County

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 19 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

165 since 1992

Regional 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 burning65
Arson/incendiarism40
Missing data/not specified/undetermined29
Fireworks12
Recreation and ceremony10
Railroad operations and maintenance3
Power generation/transmission/distribution3
Misuse of fire by a minor2
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
5 September 2019Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresKentucky Division of ForestryBALL FORK
29 September 2007Debris and open burning5.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
28 September 2019Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresKentucky Division of ForestrySTONE
25 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undetermined10 acresWest Virginia Division of Forestrynot named
22 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresKentucky Division of ForestryGOODY
13 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresKentucky Division of ForestryLOFTIS MANSION
13 August 2008Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
13 August 2007Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresWest Virginia Division of Forestrynot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Pike County

Storms near this place

21 since 1996

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 1996Flash FloodBelfry$1,000,000no account filed
January 2022Flash FloodBelfry$200,000Water is reported to be in homes in the Belfry Community. Water rescues are about to be performed.
January 2022Flash FloodBelfry$50,000Reports of flooding in the community of Belfry. Belfry Middle School is inundated with water.
April 2007Flash FloodBelfry$50,000Evacuation of several residents on Hatcher Street in Belfrey. Evacuation of residents of Octavia Hollow in the Stone area of Highway 199.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindBelfry$20,000Straight line winds blew the metal roof off of an auto sales building in Belfry.
June 1999Thunderstorm WindBelfry$15,000Strong 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 2008Thunderstorm WindBelfry$5,000Thunderstorm wind gusts caused the roof to collapse at the Belfry Speedway service station.
April 2011Thunderstorm WindBelfry$2,000Large tree limbs were blown down in Belfry.
March 2015FloodBelfry$1,000Flood water was covering KY 319 near Southside Elementary school.
December 2013FloodBelfry$1,000About 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 2012Flash FloodBelfry$1,000Water was flowing over Church House Hollow Rd.
May 2025HailBelfry-A picture of hail estimated to be around the size of a golf ball was sent in from the town of Belfry.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindBelfry-Trees were reported to have been downed across the Belfry community.
July 2022Flash FloodBelfry-Pond Creek was out of its banks and flowing across the back alley at Belfry Middle School.
December 2014Thunderstorm WindBelfry-A tree was blown down on KY 1056 on Ball Fork in Belfry.
May 2013Thunderstorm WindBelfry-A tree was blown down and was blocking Hwy 319.
March 2004Thunderstorm WindBelfry-A few trees were blown down and nickel size hail also fell.
July 2003Thunderstorm WindBelfry-Trees were down onto power lines on Pond Road or Kentucky Highway 199.
June 2000Thunderstorm WindBelfry-Trees down.
January 1999HailBelfry-no account filed
May 1996HailBelfry-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Pike 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
Sharondale0.7 miles19
Narrows Branch (historical)1.3 miles24
Hardy1.3 miles24
Toler1.5 miles23
Road Fork (historical)1.6 miles23
Forest Hills1.8 miles23
Huddy1.8 miles19
Stone2.4 miles19

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 BelfryAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q4882389The 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.