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.
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 14 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.
- 1891 USGS Hazard quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1916 USGS Hyden quadrangle1:48000
- 1919 USGS Hyden quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Hyden East quadrangle1:24000
- 1957 USGS Jenkins quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Jenkins quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Hyden East quadrangle1:24000
- 1977 USGS Hazard quadrangle1:100000
- 1980 USGS Hyden East quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
174 since 1997Regional 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 burning | 81 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 36 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 14 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 September 2007 | Debris and open burning | 55 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 29 September 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 799 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 25 September 2007 | Debris and open burning | 9.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 19 September 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 118 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 18 September 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 12 September 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 12 September 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 50 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 31 August 1999 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
13 since 2006Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Smilax | $20,000 | Large trees and power lines were blown down. Phone line damage also occurred. |
| June 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Smilax | $8,000 | Numerous limbs down, some as large as four inches in diameter. |
| March 2012 | Hail | Smilax | $5,000 | Golf ball size hail severely damaged a pick up truck near Smilax. |
| February 2018 | Flood | Smilax | $1,000 | Both 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 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Smilax | $1,000 | Tree down in yard. |
| March 2026 | Thunderstorm Wind | Smilax | - | Leslie County dispatch reported a tree blown down in the MM 3 to 4 stretch of KY-699 in the vicinity of Smilax. |
| May 2013 | Heavy Rain | Smilax | - | 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 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Smilax | - | Trees were blown down on Cutshin Rd. |
| March 2012 | Hail | Smilax | - | Golf ball size hail fell on Granny Fork of Hwy 699 in Smilax. |
| August 2009 | Flash Flood | Smilax | - | Water was reported to be over a bridge along Coon Creek Road. |
| June 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Smilax | - | One tree down along Highway 699. |
| June 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Smilax | - | Several trees down. |
| May 2007 | Hail | Smilax | - | 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.
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 Smilax | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q7544545 | 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 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.








