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Fairfield, Kentucky

7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Coxs Creek census division. It lies in ZIP code area 40020. The Survey maps it on the Fairfield quadrangle. 118 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 719 feet above sea level.

Fairfield within Nelson County

Population over time

3 figures

Fairfield grew from 72 to 118 between 2000 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
200072
2010113+41 (+57%)
2020118+5 (+4%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 surveys from 7 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

2 since 2004

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Fairfield in 2004, burning about 8 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined2

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
27 February 2004Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
27 February 2004Missing data/not specified/undetermined6.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Nelson County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Fairfield: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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
Spencer County Stone, Inc.Stone, Crushed/BrokenProducer

Every working recorded in Nelson County

Storms near this place

8 since 2010

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Fairfield in 8 storm reports between 2010 and 2025: 4 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, 1 flash 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
April 2020Tornado (EF1)Fairfield$200,000The tornado initially touched down on the northwest side of a large family home and farm on Fairfield Road. The upper part of the roof of a two story home was lifted off and thrown in various directions. Several large 2x10s and 2x8s were impaled in the ground about 50 yards from the barn. Two trees on the property sustained extensive twisting and several large section of the trees were snapped. The tornado at this point was only 35 yards wide with wind speeds of 95 mph. The owner of the house was upstairs sleeping, when he heard his ears popping, then a large roar of wind on top of the house and bricks fell on his bed. Surprisingly he sustained no injuries. The tornado then moved across a mixture of open farm fields and scattered forest. There is a significant swath of tree damage between Fairfield Road and Murrays Run Road, with trees uprooted, snapped, and twisted. Thanks to a nelson county drone you could clearly see trees laying in multiple directions. ||The tornado hit a property on Murrays Run Road ripping off the sides of a large well-built barn. The back part of the barn was thrown to the west while a wagon in the trailer was pushed out through the barn. A 72' x 12' shed next to the barn was destroyed. Parts of that barn were impaled into the ground 75 to 80 yards down wind. The tornado was at its widest at 45 yards here with 95 mph winds. Another remarkable thing is the family house was only 60 yards from the damage path, and did not lose even a shingle on the house. Across the street the tornado did extensive roof damage to a family house and barn, uplifting several large parts of it. Debris from the barn was thrown up to 300 yards downwind and in many different directions. The family said that they heard all the doors in the house shut tightly and heard a distinct roar. The tornado produced sporadic damage across farmland mainly in terms of trees, with more concentrated damage along Plum Run Road. Cedar tree damage was rather extensive with many cedars being snapped and twisted. Winds were around 90 mph here with a width of 40 yards. The tornado destroyed an old barn on Chester Hahn Road but weakened to an EF-0 of 80 mph and ended with a few snapped trees before Dugan Lane.
April 2025Flash FloodFairfield-Water was flowing over Wilkerson Road near Plum Run Road.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindFairfield-Local law enforcement reported a large tree down across Kentucky Highway 48.
December 2015HailFairfield-An amateur radio operator reported that hail up to 3/4 inch in diameter fell along with a 50 mph wind gust.
September 2010Thunderstorm WindFairfield-The state highway department reported several large limbs had to be removed from KY 652 and KY 1392 in Fairfield.
March 2017HailFairfield-no account filed
April 2017HailFairfield-no account filed
April 2017HailFairfield-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Nelson 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
Plum Run (historical)2.4 miles7
Bloomfield3.9 miles9
Upper Grove (historical)5.1 miles7
Coxs Creek5.3 miles7
Sol Bloom (historical)5.5 miles9
Highgrove6.4 miles7
Lenore6.7 miles11
Hahntown (historical)7.0 miles9

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 FairfieldAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q938007The 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 491876. 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.