Letcher, Kentucky
18 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1890 and the latest in 1992. It stands in the Blackey census division. It lies in ZIP code area 41832. It stands on Crases Branch. The Survey maps it on the Blackey quadrangle. It stands 1,024 feet above sea level.
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 18 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.
- 1890 USGS Whitesburg quadrangle1:125000
- 1892 USGS Whitesburg quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1913 USGS Oven Fork quadrangle1:48000
- 1915 USGS Whitesburg quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1954 USGS Blackey quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1957 USGS Jenkins quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Jenkins quadrangle1:250000
- 1977 USGS Pikeville quadrangle1:100000
- 1992 USGS Blackey quadrangle1:24000
Photographs
1 photograph,Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Fires near this place
224 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 224 fires within 5 miles of Letcher between 1997 and 2020, burning about 7,007 acres in total. None started naturally. 30 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 | 105 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 62 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 30 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 21 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 2 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
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 2007 | Debris and open burning | 80 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 8 September 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | CARBON GLOW |
| 4 September 2008 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 28 September 2007 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 28 September 2007 | Debris and open burning | 90 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 28 September 2007 | Debris and open burning | 9.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 23 September 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 2.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | ELK CREEK |
| 23 September 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | EMORY LN. |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
7 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Letcher in 7 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 5 thunderstorm wind, 2 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2004 | Flash Flood | Letcher | $10,000 | Highway 2036 was washed out at Mill Branch Road. |
| December 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Letcher | $1,000 | A report on social media showed a metal building in the 4300 block of KY-7 (between the Jeremiah and Letcher communities) with a peeled back roof. Pieces of sheet metal were blown straight into the yard of the neighboring property, along with lawn ornaments, outdoor furniture, and a metal swing set. |
| July 2015 | Flash Flood | Letcher | $1,000 | Swiftly flowing water at least a foot deep from Elk Creek was moving across Hwy 3408. |
| July 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Letcher | - | Power lines were blown down in Letcher. |
| April 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Letcher | - | The roof of an administration building of a camp was damaged. |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Letcher | - | Trees were down. |
| May 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Letcher | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blackey | 1.1 miles | 18 | |
| Indian Bottom (historical) | 1.1 miles | 18 | |
| Jeremiah | 2.2 miles | 18 | |
| Roxana | 2.4 miles | 16 | |
| Carbon Glow | 2.4 miles | 18 | |
| Hot Spot | 2.6 miles | 18 | |
| Carcassonne | 2.7 miles | 18 | |
| Isom | 4.3 miles | 18 |
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 Letcher | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q6533182 | 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 496300. 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.








