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Arborlook Insights
Risk & Response

Orange County, CA

Community risk profile | NRI Score: 76.8 Relatively High

3.2M
Population
14
Departments
328
Stations
614
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
24.1
expected fatality-equivalents per year, natural hazards only
4th highest of 58
Life Safety per 100k
0.76
natural hazard fatality-equivalents per 100,000 residents
32nd highest of 58
Natural Hazard Property Loss
$1.6B
expected building loss per year, natural hazards only
4th highest of 58
Property Loss per Resident
$504
natural hazard building loss per resident per year
42nd highest of 58

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 Orange County, the largest single contributor is Earthquake, 94% of the life-safety total.

Orange County carries an expected 24 natural hazard fatality-equivalents and $1.6B in building loss per year. Rank chips compare the 58 California counties. Nationally, Orange County ranks 14th of 3,222 U.S. counties for life-safety loss, 2141st for life safety per 100k residents, 4th for property loss, and 847th 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 Orange 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 Orange County.

Talk to us about Orange County See what a department sees

Loss Breakdown

83%
17%
Property (buildings): $1.6B (82.8%)
Life safety: $330.4M (17.2%)
Agriculture: $92K (0.0%)

Total expected annual loss: $1,926,466,570 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)

Earthquake
$309.2M
Heat Wave
$11.0M
Landslide
$3.2M
Wildfire
$2.8M
Tornado
$1.9M
Inland Flooding
$1.4M

By property loss ($/yr)

Inland Flooding
$818.5M
Earthquake
$706.1M
Wildfire
$54.8M
Coastal Flooding
$8.4M
Tornado
$3.4M
Tsunami
$2.5M

Census Tract Risk Map

Shaded by quintile across the census tracts in Orange 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

64%
29%
Career: 64% (9)
Combination: 29% (4)
Unreported: 7% (1)
Residents per Station
9,652
census population per registered station
Stations per 100k
10.4
registered stations per 100,000 residents

Department composition covers the 14 departments registered in NERIS Public for Orange County, CA. 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 Orange 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 14 departments
Department ▲ Est. Population ▲ Life-Safety Loss ▼ NRI Rating ▲ Stations ▲
Los Angeles County Fire Department 4.0M $531.1M Relatively High 200
City Of La Habra Fire Department 3.6M $488.3M Relatively High 0
Los Alamitos Army Fire & Emergency Services 1.5M $97.7M Relatively High 1
San Onofre Fire Department 1.5M $97.7M Relatively High 1
Anaheim Fire & Rescue 315,840 $43.1M Relatively High 35
Fullerton Fire Department 132,129 $31.3M Very High 7
Orange Fire Department 127,722 $20.4M Very High 8
Huntington Beach Fire Department 175,613 $14.5M Relatively High 23
Costa Mesa Fire & Rescue Department 106,660 $13.1M Relatively High 12
Brea Fire Department 38,386 $8.0M Very High 10
Placentia Fire Department 45,832 $6.6M Relatively High 2
Newport Beach Fire Department 76,771 $6.3M Relatively High 20
City Of Fountain Valley Fire Department 52,068 $5.4M Relatively High 5
Laguna Beach Fire Department 22,506 $2.9M Relatively High 4
No departments match your search.

Risk Snapshot

9.5%
Poverty Rate
16.3%
Age 65+
9.6%
Disability Rate
6.4%
Uninsured
56.8%
Pre-1980 Housing
2.7%
Mobile Homes
5.5%
Vacancy Rate
0.1%
Wood Heat
$122,471
Median HH Income

FEMA Disaster Declarations

13
Last 10 Years
25
Last 25 Years
Fire
Most Frequent

Every department in your region, on one briefing

Our Regional tier gives state fire marshals and county fire authorities one briefing across every department in the jurisdiction: priority tracts ranked by risk and demand, NERIS adoption by county, and a quarterly report with a page per department. Response times appear for the departments you sponsor. Free 90-day pilot.

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