Arborlook
Risk & Response
by Arborlook Insights

Vernon County, MO

Community risk profile | NRI Score: 79.6 Relatively High

19,687
Population
7
Departments
7
Stations
6
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, separate from agriculture.

Natural Hazard Life Safety
0.24
expected fatality-equivalents per year, natural hazards only
81st highest of 115
Life Safety per 100k
1.23
natural hazard fatality-equivalents per 100,000 residents
104th highest of 115
Natural Hazard Property Loss
$6.8M
expected building loss per year, natural hazards only
65th highest of 115
Property Loss per Resident
$344
natural hazard building loss per resident per year
70th highest of 115

These figures cover natural hazards only. Structure fire, EMS, and motor vehicle incidents are not included in the National Risk Index and are not counted here, so this is not an all-cause life safety measure. For Vernon County, the largest single contributor is Heat Wave, 34% of the life-safety total.

Vernon County carries an expected under 1 natural hazard fatality-equivalents and $6.8M in building loss per year. Rank chips compare the 115 Missouri counties. Nationally, Vernon County ranks 1742nd of 3,222 U.S. counties for life-safety loss, 1359th for life safety per 100k residents, 1938th for property loss, and 1542nd 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 one half of the picture. The other half is what your departments run on: fire deaths and injuries, cause of ignition, dollar loss per incident. That comes from NERIS incident reporting, and it grows as departments serving Vernon County enroll. Our Regional tier brings it together across your jurisdiction, with participating departments, alongside response time analytics, cross-department benchmarking, and coverage gap analysis.

Talk to us about Vernon County See what a department sees

What Drives the Loss

48%
23%
29%
Property (buildings): $6.8M (47.9%)
Life safety: $3.3M (23.4%)
Agriculture: $4.1M (28.7%)

Total expected annual loss: $14,169,936 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.

Agriculture is 29% of expected annual loss in Vernon County, so total loss overstates property loss here. The property figure above counts building loss only.

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
$1.1M
Tornado
$650K
Inland Flooding
$496K
Cold Wave
$437K
Strong Wind
$316K
Lightning
$101K

By property loss ($/yr)

Inland Flooding
$5.2M
Tornado
$611K
Hail
$310K
Earthquake
$230K
Ice Storm
$212K
Strong Wind
$141K

Census Tract Risk Map

Shaded by quintile across the census tracts in Vernon 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

14%
71%
14%
Combination: 14% (1)
Volunteer: 71% (5)
Unreported: 14% (1)
Residents per Station
2,812
census population per registered station
Stations per 100k
35.6
registered stations per 100,000 residents

Department composition covers the 7 departments registered in NERIS Public for Vernon County, MO. 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 Vernon 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 7 departments
Department Est. Population Life-Safety Loss NRI Rating Stations
Sheldon Volunteer Fire Department 9,457 $2.1M Very High 1
Milo Rural Fire Department 13,162 $2.1M Relatively High 1
City Of Nevada Fire Department 12,891 $2.1M Relatively High 1
Compton Junction Fire District, Inc. 9,018 $1.7M Very High 1
Rich Hill Fire Department 10,041 $1.6M Very High 1
Deerfield Community Fire Association 7,771 $1.5M Relatively High 1
Schell City Rural Volunteer Fire Department 3,721 $577.1K Very High 1
No departments match your search.

Risk Snapshot

18.8%
Poverty Rate
20.6%
Age 65+
19.3%
Disability Rate
14.4%
Uninsured
54.8%
Pre-1980 Housing
9.8%
Mobile Homes
13.1%
Vacancy Rate
6.7%
Wood Heat
$55,269
Median HH Income

FEMA Disaster Declarations

7
Last 10 Years
20
Last 25 Years
Severe Storm
Most Frequent

Response-level intelligence for your region

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