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Risk & Response

Maricopa County, AZ

Community risk profile | NRI Score: 69.3 Relatively High

4.6M
Population
35
Departments
283
Stations
1,009
Census Tracts

Natural Hazard Loss Profile

Expected annual loss across the 18 natural hazards in FEMA's National Risk Index. Life safety is expressed in fatality-equivalents, combining expected deaths and injuries. Property loss counts building damage only, not agriculture.

Natural Hazard Life Safety
72.2
expected fatality-equivalents per year, natural hazards only
1st highest of 15
Life Safety per 100k
1.58
natural hazard fatality-equivalents per 100,000 residents
5th highest of 15
Natural Hazard Property Loss
$1.2B
expected building loss per year, natural hazards only
1st highest of 15
Property Loss per Resident
$263
natural hazard building loss per resident per year
13th highest of 15

These figures cover natural hazards only. Structure fire, EMS, and motor vehicle incidents are not in the National Risk Index, so this is not an all-cause life safety measure. For Maricopa County, the largest single contributor is Heat Wave, 97% of the life-safety total.

Maricopa County carries an expected 72 natural hazard fatality-equivalents and $1.2B in building loss per year. Rank chips compare the 15 Arizona counties. Nationally, Maricopa County ranks 3rd of 3,222 U.S. counties for life-safety loss, 942nd for life safety per 100k residents, 10th for property loss, and 2170th for property loss per resident. Computed from census tract data covering every resident, independent of fire department boundaries.

Add fire mortality, cause, and loss

Natural hazard exposure is only part of the risk. Fire deaths and injuries, cause of ignition, and dollar loss per incident come from NERIS incident reporting, which grows as departments serving Maricopa County enroll. Our Regional tier adds that data for the departments your jurisdiction sponsors, next to public risk and NERIS adoption for every department in Maricopa County.

Talk to us about Maricopa County See what a department sees

Loss Breakdown

55%
45%
Property (buildings): $1.2B (54.7%)
Life safety: $988.7M (45.0%)
Agriculture: $5.7M (0.3%)

Total expected annual loss: $2,195,561,919 per year. Life safety is shown here in dollars, at FEMA's $13.7M value of statistical life, so the three shares sum to the total.

Hazards Ranked Two Ways

The hazard that threatens people is often not the hazard that destroys buildings. Both columns cover the same 18 hazards over the same year.

By life-safety loss ($/yr)

Heat Wave
$957.0M
Inland Flooding
$13.0M
Earthquake
$8.3M
Strong Wind
$3.8M
Tornado
$2.8M
Lightning
$2.0M

By property loss ($/yr)

Inland Flooding
$1.1B
Wildfire
$40.3M
Hail
$24.1M
Earthquake
$22.5M
Strong Wind
$5.0M
Tornado
$2.6M

Census Tract Risk Map

Shaded by quintile across the census tracts in Maricopa County. Gray tracts have no modeled loss or no resident population. Per-resident figures on this map use the National Risk Index 2020 tract population.

Fire Service Profile

83%
9%
Career: 83% (29)
Combination: 3% (1)
Volunteer: 9% (3)
Unreported: 6% (2)
Residents per Station
16,112
census population per registered station
Stations per 100k
6.2
registered stations per 100,000 residents

Department composition covers the 35 departments registered in NERIS Public for Maricopa County, AZ. Departments that have not registered are not counted. Station coverage divides census population by registered stations; department service areas overlap, so their populations are not summed.

Department Rankings

Fire and EMS departments serving Maricopa County. Click column headers to sort.

NRI Rating is from FEMA's National Risk Index, which measures community risk across 18 natural hazards using expected annual losses, social vulnerability, and community resilience. Life-Safety Loss uses FEMA's Value of Statistical Life ($13.7M per expected fatality) to estimate annual risk to human life.

Department boundaries and station counts are self-reported through NERIS Public and may not reflect current service areas. Population and Life-Safety Loss reflect each department's full jurisdiction. County-level risk metrics are computed from census tract data and are not affected by boundary accuracy. See full methodology.

Showing 35 departments
Department ▲ Est. Population ▲ Life-Safety Loss ▼ NRI Rating ▲ Stations ▲
Phoenix Fire Department 1.7M $365.8M Relatively High 63
Mesa Fire and Medical Department 526,043 $114.3M Relatively High 26
Boeing Mesa Fire Department 513,713 $111.7M Relatively High 0
Chandler Fire Department 281,070 $62.2M Relatively High 11
Gilbert Fire and Rescue 289,781 $60.4M Relatively High 11
City of Scottsdale Fire Department 244,191 $56.0M Relatively High 17
Glendale Fire Department 258,951 $54.6M Relatively High 10
Peoria Fire Department 200,609 $42.4M Relatively High 8
Tempe Fire Medical Rescue Department 188,942 $40.4M Relatively High 10
Surprise Fire-Medical Department 174,136 $31.4M Relatively High 11
Rural Metro Fire Department 264,863 $31.2M Relatively Moderate 15
Carefree Fire Department 143,689 $28.2M Relatively High 17
Buckeye Fire Department 136,349 $23.5M Relatively High 8
Goodyear Fire Department 130,546 $22.7M Relatively High 8
Arizona Fire & Medical Authority 101,358 $20.5M Very High 17
Avondale Fire Medical 102,119 $19.8M Relatively High 6
South Florence Volunteer Fire Department 151,376 $13.5M Relatively Moderate 0
Queen Creek Fire and Medical Department 95,381 $13.2M Relatively High 6
Sun City Fire District 45,078 $10.4M Very High 3
Daisy Mountain Fire District 47,811 $10.3M Relatively High 12
El Mirage Fire Department 36,389 $7.9M Relatively High 1
Fountain Hills Fire Department 23,629 $5.1M Very High 2
Tonto Basin Fire District 2,231 $2.3M Very High 4
Tolleson Fire Department 9,724 $1.7M Very High 1
Wickenburg Fire Department 7,936 $1.6M Very High 1
Gila River Fire Department 15,886 $1.6M Very High 4
Salt River Fire Department 5,176 $1.4M Very High 4
Luke Air Force Base 2,792 $772.2K Relatively Low 0
Gila Bend Fire Department 2,100 $648.6K Very High 1
Circle City- Morristown Fire Department 1,712 $329.5K Very High 1
Rio Verde Fire District 3,187 $224.9K Very High 2
Aguila Volunteer Fire Department 1,048 $204.6K Very High 1
fort mcdowell 1,240 $164.4K Relatively Low 1
Harquahala Valley Fire District 466 $87.7K Very High 1
Gila Bend Afaf Fire Department 8 $198 Very Low 0
No departments match your search.

Risk Snapshot

11.0%
Poverty Rate
16.3%
Age 65+
12.2%
Disability Rate
10.6%
Uninsured
28.6%
Pre-1980 Housing
4.6%
Mobile Homes
8.2%
Vacancy Rate
0.1%
Wood Heat
$96,933
Median HH Income

FEMA Disaster Declarations

10
Last 10 Years
16
Last 25 Years
Fire
Most Frequent

Every department in your region, on one briefing

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