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
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
Allison Ranger Stationlisted 1980
Double-O Ranch Historic Districtlisted 1982
Pete French Round Barnlisted 1971
P Ranchlisted 1979
Sod House Ranchlisted 1979
Population over time
3 figuresBurns 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 3,064 | |
| 2010 | 2,806 | -258 (-8%) |
| 2020 | 2,730 | -76 (-3%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 10 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1955 USGS Burns quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Burns quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Burns quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Burns quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1960 USGS Burns quadrangle1:62500
- 1975 USGS Burns quadrangle1:24000
- 1993 USGS Burns quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
22 since 1992Regional 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 7 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 4 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Firearms and explosives use | 2 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 September 2006 | Natural | under an acre | Burns District | 2572 |
| 10 September 1998 | Natural | under an acre | Burns District | HULL FIRE |
| 8 August 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Hines Fire Department | DUMP TRUCK |
| 25 August 2011 | Natural | under an acre | Burns District | 174 |
| 2 August 2007 | Natural | under an acre | Burns District | WATER TANK FIRE |
| 16 August 2013 | Firearms and explosives use | 144 acres | Burns District | SHOOTING RANGE |
| 14 August 1993 | Natural | under an acre | Burns District | RICKMAN |
| 4 July 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,037 acres | Burns District | RADAR |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 21 shownRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hines Higway Cut Stone Occurrence | Stone, Dimension | Occurrence | ||
| Cinder Pit | Pumice | Producer | ||
| Mp 125.7 Central Oregon Hwy. | Pumice | Producer | ||
| Unnamed Pit | Pumice | Producer | ||
| Choate | Stone | Past Producer | ||
| Goodman Spring | Geothermal | Occurrence | ||
| Hines Higway Cut Stone Occurrence | Stone | Past Producer | ||
| Hines Lumber Co. | Geothermal | Producer | ||
| Hines Quarry | Stone | Past Producer | ||
| Hotchkiss Quarry #2 | Stone | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
12 since 1993Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2025 | Flood | Burns | $1,000,000 | 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. There was extensive damage to sewer system. |
| September 1997 | Tornado (F0) | Burns | $15,000 | During 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 2025 | Flood | Burns | - | 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 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Burns | - | Mesonet Station OD152 recorded a 58 mph wind gust as showers passed overhead. No damages were reported. |
| May 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Burns | - | Harney County Dispatch reported trees and power lines down in Burns due to damaging thunderstorm winds. |
| March 2017 | Flood | Burns | - | Flooding occurred along the Silvies River around the Burns, Oregon area and surrounding fields and roads. |
| July 2009 | Hail | Burns | - | A trained spotter reported hail ranging from one half to three quarters of an inch. |
| July 2001 | Hail | Burns | - | Spotter at 11 NE Burns reported windows broken by 1.75 inch hail. |
| August 2001 | Tornado (F0) | Burns | - | Tornado touched down briefly in the southeast section of Burns. |
| August 2001 | Tornado (F0) | Burns | - | Tornado touched down briefly 6 miles southeast of Burns near Wright's Point. |
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Burns | - | no account filed |
| May 1993 | Thunderstorm Wind | Burns | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indian Village | 1.3 miles | 10 | |
| Hines | 2.1 miles | 10 | |
| Harney | 12.9 miles | 11 | |
| Lawen | 16.7 miles | 8 | |
| Narrows | 21.8 miles | 8 | |
| Buchanan | 22.9 miles | 9 | |
| Riley | 24.0 miles | 7 | |
| Trout Creek | 24.3 miles | 10 |
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 Burns | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q6178257 | The 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.






