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Valley Falls, South Carolina

13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1991. It stands in the Boiling Springs census division. It lies in ZIP code area 29316. It stands on Fawn Branch. The Survey maps it on the Valley Falls quadrangle. 8,012 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 810 feet above sea level.

Valley Falls within Spartanburg County

Population over time

2 figures

Valley Falls grew from 6,299 to 8,012 between 2010 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
20106,299
20208,012+1,713 (+27%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 13 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

180 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 180 fires within 5 miles of Valley Falls between 1992 and 2020, burning about 519 acres in total. 2 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/undetermined94
Debris and open burning35
Misuse of fire by a minor19
Arson/incendiarism13
Equipment and vehicle use9
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Recreation and ceremony2
Natural2
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Smoking1
Fireworks1
Other causes1

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
6 September 1997Debris and open burning3.0 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
29 September 1994Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
25 September 2014Arson/incendiarismunder an acreSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
23 September 2007Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
16 September 1999Debris and open burning1.0 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
31 August 2011Debris and open burning2.0 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
3 August 2017Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
3 August 2011Fireworks3.0 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Spartanburg County

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Valley Falls: 1 unknown, 1 past producer, 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Titanium, Iron, Gold, Iron. 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
Mcbee PlacerGoldPast Producer1844
North SpartanburgTitanium, IronUnknownPlacer , Modern , Fluvial
Senia ProspectIronProspect

Every working recorded in Spartanburg County

Storms near this place

6 since 2013

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Valley Falls in 6 storm reports between 2013 and 2024: 5 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning. 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
April 2022LightningValley Falls$200,000Media reported lightning struck a house in the Boiling Springs area which ignited a fire that destroyed the structure.
June 2024Thunderstorm WindValley Falls-Utility company reported several trees and power lines blown down on the south side of Boiling Springs near I-85.
July 2023Thunderstorm WindValley Falls-County comms reported multiple trees blown down, some on power lines from the Boiling Springs area to near Chesnee.
May 2020Thunderstorm WindValley Falls-Public reported trees blown down that damaged a chain link fence on Parris Bridge Rd at Sandifer Rd. Nws employee reported a karge tree uprooted near downtown Spartanburg, and Highway Dept reported multiple trees down at Brice Rd and Chapel Dr.
June 2016Thunderstorm WindValley Falls-County comms reported multiple trees blown down from Boiling Springs/Spartanburg northeast to the Chesnee area.
July 2013Thunderstorm WindValley Falls-A tree was blown down on Hanging Rock Rd near Boiling Springs.

Every storm recorded in Spartanburg 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
Quail Ridge0.4 miles13
Midland Estates0.6 miles13
Mountainbrook0.7 miles13
Canterbury Heights0.7 miles13
Peachtree Gardens1.1 miles13
North Hill Acres1.1 miles13
Sherman Park1.1 miles13
Northbrook Park1.1 miles13

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 Valley FallsAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1878888The 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 1251285. 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.