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Elma, New York

21 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1905 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Elma town. It lies in ZIP code area 14059. It stands on Pond Brook. The Survey maps it on the Orchard Park quadrangle.

Elma within Erie County

Then and now

1905 to 1984

The same ground, surveyed 79 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Elma, surveyed 1984
Topographic sheet of Elma, surveyed 1905

Compare 1905 against another survey:

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 21 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

262 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 262 fires within 5 miles of Elma between 2000 and 2020, burning about 116 acres in total. 30 started naturally. 27 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/undetermined146
Natural30
Arson/incendiarism27
Smoking21
Debris and open burning16
Recreation and ceremony11
Misuse of fire by a minor5
Equipment and vehicle use5
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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
8 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
8 September 2001Arson/incendiarismunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
6 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
5 September 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A
30 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
3 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
21 September 2004Smokingunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
20 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Erie 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 Elma: 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
Lancaster Dredge ESand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Erie County

Storms near this place

14 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Elma in 14 storm reports between 1993 and 2024: 11 thunderstorm wind, 2 flood, 1 flash flood. 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
December 2008FloodElma$50,000no account filed
July 2002Thunderstorm WindElma$20,000no account filed
July 2017Flash FloodElma$15,000no account filed
May 1998Thunderstorm WindElma$12,000no account filed
November 2017FloodElma$10,000Buffalo Creek at Gardenville crested at 7.83 feet at 3:15 AM on the 6th (Flood Stage is 7 feet).
August 2017Thunderstorm WindElma$10,000Law enforcement reported trees down by thunderstorm winds.
May 2008Thunderstorm WindElma$8,000no account filed
September 2000Thunderstorm WindElma$8,000no account filed
August 1995Thunderstorm WindElma$8,000no account filed
September 1993Thunderstorm WindElma$5,000no account filed
August 2020Thunderstorm WindElma$2,000Trees and wires were reported down.
August 2024Thunderstorm WindElma$1,000Trees downed in Elma.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindElma$1,000A tree was downed into power lines and was blocking the road.
April 2023Thunderstorm WindElma$500A tree was downed in Elma.

Every storm recorded in Erie 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
Elma Center1.5 miles21
Spring Brook Station2.3 miles21
Blossom2.8 miles21
Spring Brook2.9 miles21
East Lancaster3.1 miles19
Jamison Road3.3 miles19
Lancaster3.8 miles19
East Seneca4.0 miles21

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 949562. 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.