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Ponza, Kentucky

25 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1977. It stands in the Pineville census division. It lies in ZIP code area 40977. It stands on Yellow Creek. The Survey maps it on the Middlesboro North quadrangle. It stands 994 feet above sea level.

Ponza within Bell County

Topographic sheets covering this place

15 surveys from 25 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

169 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 169 fires within 5 miles of Ponza between 1997 and 2020, burning about 8,157 acres in total. None started naturally. 32 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 burning64
Missing data/not specified/undetermined52
Arson/incendiarism32
Recreation and ceremony14
Equipment and vehicle use3
Smoking2
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Railroad operations and maintenance1

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 2016Debris and open burning1.0 acresKentucky Division of ForestryTANYARD HILL
6 September 2007Debris and open burning2.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
30 September 2007Recreation and ceremony15 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
28 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
27 September 2007Debris and open burning1.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
20 September 2007Recreation and ceremony2.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
10 September 2002Debris and open burning1.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
27 August 1998Arson/incendiarism5.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Bell 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 Ponza: 2 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Clay, Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
Hana Sand & Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Mayfield MineClayProducer

Every working recorded in Bell County

Storms near this place

6 since 2009

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ponza in 6 storm reports between 2009 and 2025: 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 flood, 1 flash flood, 1 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
December 2009FloodPonza$5,000Blue Ridge Church Road was washed out in Ponza.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindPonza$3,000A social media report showed trees down on power lines in the Page community of US-119. Power lines were also downed near the train trestle.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindPonza-A tree was reportedly blown down at Williams Branch.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindPonza-A tree was blown down onto KY-1534 about 1/4 mile off US-119 near the community of Calvin.
April 2021HailPonza-A Bell County Road Department employee reported up to quarter-size hail at the highway garage off of KY-119. Localized drifts of hail were noted near the building on the following noontime, even with temperatures warming through the 70s.
August 2010Flash FloodPonza-Heavy rain in Bell County led to the flooding of a barn and field in the Calvin area.

Every storm recorded in Bell 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
Calvin1.1 miles27
East Pineville1.8 miles25
Harbell1.8 miles25
Varilla2.6 miles27
Ferndale2.8 miles25
Wasioto3.1 miles25
Colmar3.8 miles25
Straight Creek3.9 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 PonzaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q7228478The 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 508849. 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.