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Risk & Response

Fergus County, MT

Community risk profile | NRI Score: 90.7 Very High

11,687
Population
13
Departments
13
Stations
3
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
0.56
expected fatality-equivalents per year, natural hazards only
16th highest of 56
Life Safety per 100k
4.81
natural hazard fatality-equivalents per 100,000 residents
15th highest of 56
Natural Hazard Property Loss
$5.0M
expected building loss per year, natural hazards only
22nd highest of 56
Property Loss per Resident
$428
natural hazard building loss per resident per year
38th highest of 56

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 Fergus County, the largest single contributor is Cold Wave, 90% of the life-safety total.

Fergus County carries an expected under 1 natural hazard fatality-equivalents and $5.0M in building loss per year. Rank chips compare the 56 Montana counties. Nationally, Fergus County ranks 980th of 3,222 U.S. counties for life-safety loss, 131st for life safety per 100k residents, 2236th for property loss, and 1100th 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 Fergus 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 Fergus County.

Talk to us about Fergus County See what a department sees

Loss Breakdown

36%
56%
7%
Property (buildings): $5.0M (36.5%)
Life safety: $7.7M (56.2%)
Agriculture: $1.0M (7.3%)

Total expected annual loss: $13,704,327 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 7% of expected annual loss in Fergus 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)

Cold Wave
$6.9M
Lightning
$455K
Winter Weather
$229K
Heat Wave
$54K
Strong Wind
$20K
Tornado
$13K

By property loss ($/yr)

Inland Flooding
$4.1M
Wildfire
$396K
Winter Weather
$213K
Tornado
$132K
Hail
$66K
Earthquake
$39K

Census Tract Risk Map

Shaded by quintile across the census tracts in Fergus 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

85%
Combination: 8% (1)
Volunteer: 85% (11)
Unreported: 8% (1)
Residents per Station
899
census population per registered station
Stations per 100k
111.2
registered stations per 100,000 residents

Department composition covers the 13 departments registered in NERIS Public for Fergus County, MT. 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 Fergus 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 ▲
Lewistown Fire Rescue 8,143 $5.2M Very High 2
Moore Volunteer Fire Department 782 $534.2K Very High 1
Winifred Rural Fire Department 465 $318.8K Very High 1
Grass Range Rural Fire District 449 $308.0K Very High 1
Heath Rural Fire District 405 $277.8K Very High 2
Hilger Rural Fire District 375 $257.0K Very High 1
Denton Rural Fire District 364 $250.3K Very High 1
Roy Rural Fire Department 261 $178.5K Very High 1
Cheadle Volunteer Fire Company 238 $163.1K Very High 0
Beaver Creek/ Cottonwood Creek Rural Fire District 125 $85.9K Very High 2
Coffee Creek Fire Department 80 $55.0K Very High 1
N Fork Flatwillow Rural Fire Department 16 $10.7K Very High 0
North Fork Flatwillow Rural Fire Department 16 $10.7K Very High 0
No departments match your search.

Risk Snapshot

15.1%
Poverty Rate
25.1%
Age 65+
14.6%
Disability Rate
16.2%
Uninsured
67.4%
Pre-1980 Housing
13.4%
Mobile Homes
11.8%
Vacancy Rate
7.6%
Wood Heat
$63,491
Median HH Income

FEMA Disaster Declarations

4
Last 10 Years
7
Last 25 Years
Flood
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