BlockBefore

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.

Letcher within Letcher County

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 18 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.

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.

Jenkins Central Power Plant, North side of U.S. Highway 23, south of Little Elkhorn Creek, Jenkins, Letcher County, KY
Jenkins Central Power Plant, North side of U.S. Highway 23, south of Little Elkhorn Creek, Jenkins, Letcher County, KY
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress

Fires near this place

224 since 1997

Regional 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 burning105
Missing data/not specified/undetermined62
Arson/incendiarism30
Recreation and ceremony21
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Equipment and vehicle use2

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 2007Debris and open burning80 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
8 September 2019Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresKentucky Division of ForestryCARBON GLOW
4 September 2008Debris and open burning5.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
28 September 2007Debris and open burning5.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
28 September 2007Debris and open burning90 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
28 September 2007Debris and open burning9.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
23 September 2019Arson/incendiarism2.0 acresKentucky Division of ForestryELK CREEK
23 September 2019Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresKentucky Division of ForestryEMORY LN.

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Letcher County

Storms near this place

7 since 1996

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2004Flash FloodLetcher$10,000Highway 2036 was washed out at Mill Branch Road.
December 2025Thunderstorm WindLetcher$1,000A 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 2015Flash FloodLetcher$1,000Swiftly flowing water at least a foot deep from Elk Creek was moving across Hwy 3408.
July 2015Thunderstorm WindLetcher-Power lines were blown down in Letcher.
April 2013Thunderstorm WindLetcher-The roof of an administration building of a camp was damaged.
July 2003Thunderstorm WindLetcher-Trees were down.
May 1996Thunderstorm WindLetcher-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Letcher 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
Blackey1.1 miles18
Indian Bottom (historical)1.1 miles18
Jeremiah2.2 miles18
Roxana2.4 miles16
Carbon Glow2.4 miles18
Hot Spot2.6 miles18
Carcassonne2.7 miles18
Isom4.3 miles18

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 LetcherAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q6533182The 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.