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Big Laurel, Kentucky

23 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1977. It stands in the Pine Mountain census division. It lies in ZIP code area 40808. It stands on Big Laurel Creek. The Survey maps it on the Nolansburg quadrangle. It stands 1,335 feet above sea level.

Big Laurel within Harlan County

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 23 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

101 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 101 fires within 5 miles of Big Laurel between 1994 and 2020, burning about 15,046 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 22 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 burning49
Arson/incendiarism22
Missing data/not specified/undetermined21
Recreation and ceremony7
Natural1
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
9 September 1998Debris and open burning1.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
8 September 2007Debris and open burning150 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
26 September 2008Debris and open burning1.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
15 September 2019Arson/incendiarism20 acresKentucky Division of ForestryLOBSTER BRANCH
15 September 1999Recreation and ceremony2.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
14 September 1998Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
9 August 2002Debris and open burning1.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
14 August 2007Recreation and ceremony78 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Harlan County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Big Laurel: 1 occurrence, 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Manganese. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Jones and Mcmahon ProspectManganeseOccurrence
Raines MineManganeseProspect

Every working recorded in Harlan County

Storms near this place

5 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Big Laurel in 5 storm reports between 1998 and 2017: 3 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail. 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
June 1998Thunderstorm WindBig Laurel$1,000Tree fell on house.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindBig Laurel-A Skywarn Storm Spotter observed two trees down near Big Laurel.
August 2012Thunderstorm WindBig Laurel-Several trees and large limbs were blown down around the Big Laurel community.
August 2012HailBig Laurel-no account filed
August 2001HailBig Laurel-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Harlan 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
Arthur2.7 miles23
Pine Mountain2.8 miles23
Divide3.0 miles23
Laden4.5 miles23
Nolansburg4.7 miles23
Dillon4.8 miles23
Putney5.2 miles23
Totz5.8 miles23

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 Big LaurelAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q14690102The 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 510669. 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.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

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.