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Risk & Response

Ashe County, NC

Community risk profile | NRI Score: 77.6 Relatively High

26,950
Population
10
Departments
12
Stations
9
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
51st highest of 100
Life Safety per 100k
1.17
natural hazard fatality-equivalents per 100,000 residents
10th highest of 100
Natural Hazard Property Loss
$11.9M
expected building loss per year, natural hazards only
64th highest of 100
Property Loss per Resident
$443
natural hazard building loss per resident per year
27th highest of 100

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 Ashe County, the largest single contributor is Cold Wave, 63% of the life-safety total.

Ashe County carries an expected under 1 natural hazard fatality-equivalents and $11.9M in building loss per year. Rank chips compare the 100 North Carolina counties. Nationally, Ashe County ranks 1473rd of 3,222 U.S. counties for life-safety loss, 1435th for life safety per 100k residents, 1346th for property loss, and 1058th 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 Ashe 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 Ashe County.

Talk to us about Ashe County See what a department sees

Loss Breakdown

67%
24%
9%
Property (buildings): $11.9M (66.9%)
Life safety: $4.3M (24.2%)
Agriculture: $1.6M (8.9%)

Total expected annual loss: $17,849,082 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 9% of expected annual loss in Ashe 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
$2.7M
Strong Wind
$919K
Tornado
$222K
Lightning
$165K
Inland Flooding
$121K
Landslide
$62K

By property loss ($/yr)

Inland Flooding
$10.9M
Tornado
$366K
Earthquake
$197K
Hurricane
$176K
Ice Storm
$121K
Strong Wind
$58K

Census Tract Risk Map

Shaded by quintile across the census tracts in Ashe 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

10%
80%
10%
Combination: 10% (1)
Volunteer: 80% (8)
Unreported: 10% (1)
Residents per Station
2,246
census population per registered station
Stations per 100k
44.5
registered stations per 100,000 residents

Department composition covers the 10 departments registered in NERIS Public for Ashe County, NC. 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 Ashe 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 10 departments
Department ▲ Est. Population ▲ Life-Safety Loss ▼ NRI Rating ▲ Stations ▲
Fleetwood Volunteer Fire & Rescue 3,991 $609.0K Relatively High 1
New River Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department, Inc. 2,323 $437.2K Very High 2
Deep Gap Volunteer Fire Department 3,368 $420.7K Relatively Moderate 1
Lansing Volunteer Fire Rescue Department 2,345 $394.1K Relatively High 1
Creston Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. 1,920 $303.1K Relatively High 2
Laurel Springs Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. 1,558 $267.4K Very High 1
Piney Creek Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. 1,359 $263.0K Very High 1
Warrensville Volunteer Fire & Rescue 1,539 $243.2K Very High 1
Glendale Springs Volunteer Fire Department 1,431 $225.9K Relatively High 1
Pond Mountain Fire & Rescue 880 $142.9K Relatively High 1
No departments match your search.

Risk Snapshot

13.5%
Poverty Rate
27.2%
Age 65+
20.0%
Disability Rate
9.8%
Uninsured
44.8%
Pre-1980 Housing
16.3%
Mobile Homes
29.1%
Vacancy Rate
10.0%
Wood Heat
$60,350
Median HH Income

FEMA Disaster Declarations

13
Last 10 Years
19
Last 25 Years
Hurricane
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