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Risk & Response

St. Joseph County, MI

Community risk profile | NRI Score: 41.3 Relatively Moderate

60,969
Population
13
Departments
18
Stations
18
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
0.32
expected fatality-equivalents per year, natural hazards only
39th highest of 83
Life Safety per 100k
0.52
natural hazard fatality-equivalents per 100,000 residents
60th highest of 83
Natural Hazard Property Loss
$14.0M
expected building loss per year, natural hazards only
31st highest of 83
Property Loss per Resident
$230
natural hazard building loss per resident per year
37th highest of 83

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 St. Joseph County, the largest single contributor is Cold Wave, 33% of the life-safety total.

St. Joseph County carries an expected under 1 natural hazard fatality-equivalents and $14.0M in building loss per year. Rank chips compare the 83 Michigan counties. Nationally, St. Joseph County ranks 1460th of 3,222 U.S. counties for life-safety loss, 2499th for life safety per 100k residents, 1187th for property loss, and 2497th 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 St. Joseph 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 St. Joseph County.

Talk to us about St. Joseph County See what a department sees

Loss Breakdown

74%
23%
Property (buildings): $14.0M (74.0%)
Life safety: $4.4M (23.2%)
Agriculture: $534K (2.8%)

Total expected annual loss: $18,922,444 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)

Cold Wave
$1.4M
Strong Wind
$1.1M
Tornado
$963K
Lightning
$587K
Heat Wave
$152K
Earthquake
$98K

By property loss ($/yr)

Inland Flooding
$11.4M
Hail
$1.1M
Tornado
$909K
Earthquake
$344K
Strong Wind
$236K
Ice Storm
$47K

Census Tract Risk Map

Shaded by quintile across the census tracts in St. Joseph 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

31%
69%
Combination: 31% (4)
Volunteer: 69% (9)
Residents per Station
3,387
census population per registered station
Stations per 100k
29.5
registered stations per 100,000 residents

Department composition covers the 13 departments registered in NERIS Public for St. Joseph County, MI. 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 St. Joseph 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 13 departments
Department ▲ Est. Population ▲ Life-Safety Loss ▼ NRI Rating ▲ Stations ▲
Tri-Township Fire Department 18,806 $1.8M Relatively Low 3
Colon Fire & Rescue 17,408 $1.3M Relatively Moderate 1
Athens Township Fire Department 14,092 $912.4K Relatively Moderate 1
Sturgis Fire Department 10,978 $806.5K Relatively Low 1
Three Rivers Fire Department 11,444 $795.8K Relatively Low 2
Fabius And Park Townships Fire Department 6,400 $468.2K Relatively Moderate 1
White Pigeon Fire Department 5,194 $374.0K Relatively High 2
Constantine Fire Department 5,000 $347.6K Relatively High 1
Centreville Fire Department 4,272 $306.3K Relatively Moderate 1
Leonidas Volunteer Fire & Rescue 3,454 $258.5K Relatively High 1
Burr Oak Comm Fire Dept 2,548 $187.9K Relatively Low 2
Mendon Fire & Resuce 2,461 $184.4K Relatively High 1
Marcellus Fire Department 740 $56.6K Relatively Moderate 1
No departments match your search.

Risk Snapshot

11.4%
Poverty Rate
18.7%
Age 65+
16.6%
Disability Rate
10.1%
Uninsured
65.5%
Pre-1980 Housing
7.6%
Mobile Homes
13.5%
Vacancy Rate
4.6%
Wood Heat
$68,889
Median HH Income

FEMA Disaster Declarations

2
Last 10 Years
5
Last 25 Years
Snowstorm
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.

Explore the Regional Tier See the Response Demo