Birch Bay, Washington
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1907 and the latest in 1975. It stands in the Blaine census division. It lies in ZIP code area 98230. The Survey maps it on the Blaine quadrangle. 10,115 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 10 feet above sea level.
Population over time
3 figuresBirch Bay grew from 4,961 to 10,115 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 | 4,961 | |
| 2010 | 8,413 | +3,452 (+70%) |
| 2020 | 10,115 | +1,702 (+20%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 13 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.
- 1907 USGS Blaine quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1952 USGS Blaine quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1952 USGS Blaine quadrangle1:62500
- 1957 USGS Victoria quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1975 USGS Bellingham quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
12 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 12 fires within 5 miles of Birch Bay between 1996 and 2019, burning about 18 acres in total. None 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 |
|---|---|
| Recreation and ceremony | 4 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3 |
| Fireworks | 2 |
| Debris and open burning | 1 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Other causes | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 September 2009 | Fireworks | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | KOEHN RD |
| 12 September 2016 | Smoking | 1.5 acres | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | BLAINE 20 |
| 25 August 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | KLUKEN |
| 16 August 2011 | Other causes | under an acre | Washington State Fire Marshal's Office | BIRCH POINT ROAD |
| 14 August 1996 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | not named |
| 8 July 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | POINT WHITE HORN |
| 6 July 1996 | Fireworks | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | not named |
| 4 July 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
4 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Birch Bay: 4 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Diatomite. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blain Pit | Diatomite | Past Producer | ||
| Bordstrom Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Loop Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
1 since 2001Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Birch Bay in 1 storm report in 2001: 1 storm surge/tide. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2001 | Storm Surge/Tide | Birch Bay | $250,000 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Birch Bay Circle Grange | 1.1 miles | 13 | |
| Cottonwood Beach | 1.7 miles | 10 | |
| Pleasant Valley | 2.3 miles | 13 | |
| Hillsdale | 3.0 miles | 13 | |
| Kickerville | 3.1 miles | 13 | |
| Semiahmoo | 5.1 miles | 10 | |
| Blaine | 5.2 miles | 13 | |
| Custer | 5.7 miles | 13 |
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 Birch Bay | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1508497 | 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 1512009. 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.




