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Alger, Michigan

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Moffatt Township. It lies in ZIP code area 48610. The Survey maps it on the Skidway Lake quadrangle. It stands 784 feet above sea level.

Alger within Arenac County

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 9 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

42 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 42 fires within 5 miles of Alger between 1992 and 2019, burning about 216 acres in total. None started naturally. 8 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 burning10
Recreation and ceremony8
Arson/incendiarism8
Missing data/not specified/undetermined7
Equipment and vehicle use4
Smoking2
Railroad operations and maintenance1
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Other causes1

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
18 September 2004Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
19 August 1996Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
15 August 2005Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.5 acresMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
12 August 2006Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
10 August 2002Arson/incendiarism2.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
20 July 2008Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesARENAC 33
3 June 2005Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesARENAC #006
29 June 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesOGEMAW 08 - BRUSH PILE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Arenac County

Storms near this place

14 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Alger in 14 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 6 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 3 flood, 2 tornado. 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
May 2020FloodAlger$4,400,000Widespread areal flooding developed on the 18th, and persisted for several days. Most creeks and rivers in Arenac County rose out of their banks. Many roads across the county were closed at various times, including M-13 south of Standish. The Rifle River near Sterling reached a new record flood stage of 15.65 feet on the afternoon of the 19th. Some structures along the River River and Parmalee Creek were partially submerged. The Forest Lake area was evacuated due to rising water. Hundreds of homes were flooded in the Standish area. Flooding along the Lake Huron coastline was worsened by lakeshore flooding thanks to onshore winds.
March 2007FloodAlger$15,000The Rifle River near Sterling crested early on the morning of the 22nd at around 9.5 feet, above the estimated flood stage of 8 feet. The Au Gres River also rose out of its banks. A number of road closures resulted across the county, including parts of Santiago Road, Twining Road, Mackinaw Road, Hammel Beach Road, Court Street, Thaut Road, and Bessinger Road.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindAlger$14,000Social media post from Alger Area Firefighter Station 15 to avoid Maple Ridge Rd between Melita Rd and M-33 due to downed trees, in the vicinity of Skidway Lake and Prescott. Additional reports of damage in the Forest Lake and north Clayton Twp/Mills Twp area. Comments also included a photo of a healthy fallen tree on top of a late-model SUV on a road.
August 2021Thunderstorm WindAlger$8,000Multiple reports of trees and powerlines down throughout the county. Roof blown off of a barn as well.
September 2002Thunderstorm WindAlger-A few trees down.
May 2000Tornado (F0)Alger-A tornado briefly touched down in far northeast Gladwin County and crossed into Arenac County lifting near interstate 75.
July 1995Tornado (F2)Alger-A tornado was reported by a volunteer fireman near Alger. The tornado created a path five miles long near Forest Lake. Hundreds of trees, some several feet in diameter were uprooted. An estimated 40 to 50 homes were damaged along with several vehicles.
April 2008FloodAlger-no account filed
September 2008HailAlger-no account filed
June 1998HailAlger-no account filed
July 1997HailAlger-no account filed
July 1997HailAlger-no account filed
July 1997HailAlger-no account filed
July 1997HailAlger-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Arenac 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
Melita6.1 miles10
Morres Junction8.0 miles10
Sterling8.2 miles10
Knights Mill9.0 miles11
Maple Ridge10.3 miles10
Standish13.1 miles10
Omer15.1 miles10
Pine River15.8 miles10

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 AlgerAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q124314080The 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 619941. 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.