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Burns, Oregon

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1993. It stands in the Burns census division. It lies in ZIP code area 97720. It stands on Whiting Slough. The Survey maps it on the Burns quadrangle. 2,730 people lived here at the 2020 count.

Research this city

Burns within Harney County

On record in Burns

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 5 records

Population over time

3 figures

Burns fell from 3,064 to 2,730 between 2000 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
20003,064
20102,806-258 (-8%)
20202,730-76 (-3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 10 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

22 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 22 fires within 5 miles of Burns between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,206 acres in total. 7 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
Natural7
Equipment and vehicle use4
Missing data/not specified/undetermined4
Recreation and ceremony2
Firearms and explosives use2
Debris and open burning2
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
7 September 2006Naturalunder an acreBurns District2572
10 September 1998Naturalunder an acreBurns DistrictHULL FIRE
8 August 2020Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreHines Fire DepartmentDUMP TRUCK
25 August 2011Naturalunder an acreBurns District174
2 August 2007Naturalunder an acreBurns DistrictWATER TANK FIRE
16 August 2013Firearms and explosives use144 acresBurns DistrictSHOOTING RANGE
14 August 1993Naturalunder an acreBurns DistrictRICKMAN
4 July 2015Missing data/not specified/undetermined1,037 acresBurns DistrictRADAR

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Harney County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 21 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 21 workings within 5 miles of Burns: 10 producers, 8 past producers, 3 occurrences. 10 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Stone, Geothermal, Pumice. 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
Hines Higway Cut Stone OccurrenceStone, DimensionOccurrence
Cinder PitPumiceProducer
Mp 125.7 Central Oregon Hwy.PumiceProducer
Unnamed PitPumiceProducer
ChoateStonePast Producer
Goodman SpringGeothermalOccurrence
Hines Higway Cut Stone OccurrenceStonePast Producer
Hines Lumber Co.GeothermalProducer
Hines QuarryStonePast Producer
Hotchkiss Quarry #2StonePast Producer

Every working recorded in Harney County

Storms near this place

12 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Burns in 12 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 4 thunderstorm wind, 3 tornado, 3 flood, 2 hail. 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
March 2025FloodBurns$1,000,000Hundreds of homes were impacted by flood waters, many with major damage and some were uninhabitable. Numerous residents were evacuated during the height of the flooding with some sheltering in hotels and Red Cross mass care facilities. There was extensive damage to sewer system.
September 1997Tornado (F0)Burns$15,000During the evening of September 15th a small tornado struck the ranch of Rick and Judy Hoyt near Burns, Oregon. The short lived tornado twisted and snapped a pine tree, threw large bails of hay, broke a window and damaged power lines around the homestead. A witness in nearby Hines, Oregon reported seeing a funnel cloud around the same time.
April 2025FloodBurns-Hundreds of homes were impacted by flood waters, many with major damage and some were uninhabitable. Numerous residents were evacuated during the height of the flooding with some sheltering in hotels and Red Cross mass care facilities. Extensive damage to sewer system.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindBurns-Mesonet Station OD152 recorded a 58 mph wind gust as showers passed overhead. No damages were reported.
May 2018Thunderstorm WindBurns-Harney County Dispatch reported trees and power lines down in Burns due to damaging thunderstorm winds.
March 2017FloodBurns-Flooding occurred along the Silvies River around the Burns, Oregon area and surrounding fields and roads.
July 2009HailBurns-A trained spotter reported hail ranging from one half to three quarters of an inch.
July 2001HailBurns-Spotter at 11 NE Burns reported windows broken by 1.75 inch hail.
August 2001Tornado (F0)Burns-Tornado touched down briefly in the southeast section of Burns.
August 2001Tornado (F0)Burns-Tornado touched down briefly 6 miles southeast of Burns near Wright's Point.
July 2006Thunderstorm WindBurns-no account filed
May 1993Thunderstorm WindBurns-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Harney 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
Indian Village1.3 miles10
Hines2.1 miles10
Harney12.9 miles11
Lawen16.7 miles8
Narrows21.8 miles8
Buchanan22.9 miles9
Riley24.0 miles7
Trout Creek24.3 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 BurnsAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q6178257The 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 1118337. 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.