BlockBefore

Smilax, Kentucky

14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1891 and the latest in 1980. It stands in the Cutshin census division. It lies in ZIP code area 41764. It stands on Polls Creek. The Survey maps it on the Hyden East quadrangle. It stands 919 feet above sea level.

Smilax within Leslie County

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 14 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

174 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 174 fires within 5 miles of Smilax between 1997 and 2020, burning about 8,934 acres in total. None started naturally. 36 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 burning81
Missing data/not specified/undetermined40
Arson/incendiarism36
Recreation and ceremony14
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Misuse of fire by a minor1

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
4 September 2007Debris and open burning55 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
29 September 2007Recreation and ceremony799 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
25 September 2007Debris and open burning9.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
19 September 1999Arson/incendiarism118 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
18 September 1999Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
12 September 1999Missing data/not specified/undetermined40 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
12 September 1999Arson/incendiarism50 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
31 August 1999Debris and open burning2.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Leslie County

Storms near this place

13 since 2006

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Smilax in 13 storm reports between 2006 and 2026: 7 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 1 flash flood, 1 heavy rain. 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 2009Thunderstorm WindSmilax$20,000Large trees and power lines were blown down. Phone line damage also occurred.
June 2007Thunderstorm WindSmilax$8,000Numerous limbs down, some as large as four inches in diameter.
March 2012HailSmilax$5,000Golf ball size hail severely damaged a pick up truck near Smilax.
February 2018FloodSmilax$1,000Both broadcast media and the public reported that flood waters had tore a culvert out of the ground on Levis Branch Road in Smilax, and that a city park in Hyden was flooded due to overflow of the Middle Fork of the Kentucky River in that area.
August 2007Thunderstorm WindSmilax$1,000Tree down in yard.
March 2026Thunderstorm WindSmilax-Leslie County dispatch reported a tree blown down in the MM 3 to 4 stretch of KY-699 in the vicinity of Smilax.
May 2013Heavy RainSmilax-Three inches of rain fell in Smilax over a two hour period. Small streams in the area were at bank full as a result of the rainfall.
June 2013Thunderstorm WindSmilax-Trees were blown down on Cutshin Rd.
March 2012HailSmilax-Golf ball size hail fell on Granny Fork of Hwy 699 in Smilax.
August 2009Flash FloodSmilax-Water was reported to be over a bridge along Coon Creek Road.
June 2006Thunderstorm WindSmilax-One tree down along Highway 699.
June 2006Thunderstorm WindSmilax-Several trees down.
May 2007HailSmilax-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Leslie 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
Cinda2.1 miles14
Daley2.7 miles16
Wooton3.2 miles14
Hendrix (historical)3.2 miles14
Cutshin3.5 miles14
Toulouse3.7 miles14
Frew3.8 miles16
Wendover4.3 miles14

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 SmilaxAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q7544545The 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 515500. 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.