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Babcock Lake, New York

29 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1897 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Grafton town. It lies in ZIP code area 12138. It lies near Couch Hollow. The Survey maps it on the Grafton quadrangle.

Babcock Lake within Rensselaer County

Then and now

1897 to 1989

The same ground, surveyed 92 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Babcock Lake, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Babcock Lake, surveyed 1897

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 surveys from 29 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

78 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 78 fires within 5 miles of Babcock Lake between 1997 and 2020, burning about 90 acres in total. 9 started naturally. 13 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined29
Arson/incendiarism13
Equipment and vehicle use11
Natural9
Debris and open burning8
Smoking3
Power generation/transmission/distribution3
Recreation and ceremony2

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 September 2016Naturalunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A
16 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A
31 August 2001Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreNew York Forest Rangersnot named
31 August 2001Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresNew York Forest Rangersnot named
11 August 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
8 July 2018Smokingunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A
31 July 2003Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.5 acresFire Department of New Yorknot named
3 July 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Rensselaer County

Storms near this place

1 since 2025

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Babcock Lake in 1 storm report in 2025: 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 2025Thunderstorm WindBabcock Lake-A local 911 call center operator reported a tree down on Babcock Lake Rd.

Every storm recorded in Rensselaer 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
Potter Hill2.3 miles29
East Grafton3.2 miles29
Boyntonville3.5 miles29
North Petersburg3.9 miles29
Grafton3.9 miles29
Southwest Hoosick4.2 miles29
Stillham4.2 miles29
Petersburg Junction4.5 miles29

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 942753. 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.