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Backus Beach, Michigan

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1983. It stands in Hawes Township. It lies in ZIP code area 48762. It lies near Mount Maria. The Survey maps it on the Hubbard Lake quadrangle.

Backus Beach within Alcona County

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 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

23 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 23 fires within 5 miles of Backus Beach between 1992 and 2020, burning about 63 acres in total. 1 started naturally. None was 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 burning9
Missing data/not specified/undetermined4
Equipment and vehicle use3
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Recreation and ceremony2
Other causes1
Smoking1
Natural1

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
17 August 2007Equipment and vehicle use3.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
3 July 2016Power generation/transmission/distribution3.5 acresMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
18 July 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesALCONA TOWNSHIP FD 0000013 - 2020
18 July 2020Naturalunder an acreMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesALCONA 07 - STRIKE
16 July 1993Debris and open burning12 acresMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
3 June 1996Debris and open burning4.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
22 June 1992Equipment and vehicle use6.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
8 May 2017Debris and open burningunder an acreMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesALCONA 03 SARA FIRE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Alcona County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Backus Beach: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: 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
State Pit # 132Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Alcona County

Storms near this place

6 since 2006

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Backus Beach in 6 storm reports between 2006 and 2025: 3 hail, 1 tornado, 1 flash flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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 2008Tornado (EF1)Backus Beach$50,000EF1 tornado, with winds estimated up to 100 mph. Tornado tracked through a heavily forested area, downing many trees west of Mount Maria Road, east of Consolidated Road, and north of the West Branch River.
August 2025Thunderstorm WindBackus Beach$25,000Delayed report including images of over two dozen trees uprooted on the east side of Hubbard Lake. Some had fallen on homes.
July 2008Flash FloodBackus Beach$10,000Radar estimated three to five inches of rain fell during the late afternoon hours in the northern third of Alcona County. Mount Maria Road was flooded near the south end of Hubbard Lake. Hubbard Lake Road also went underwater, between Lake Street and Pine Grove Shores, as well as near Swede Road.
June 2008HailBackus Beach-Quarter sized hail covered the ground up to six inches deep.
June 2016HailBackus Beach-no account filed
June 2006HailBackus Beach-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Alcona 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
Hubbard Lake0.1 miles9
Larson Beach3.1 miles9
Barton City6.1 miles11
Lost Lake Woods6.6 miles9
Spruce7.2 miles9
Lincoln8.8 miles11
Killmaster10.2 miles11
Gustin11.5 miles11

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.

Wikidata item Q122545900The 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 620410. 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.