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Risk & Response

Henderson County, NC

Community risk profile | NRI Score: 58.6 Relatively Moderate

118,484
Population
12
Departments
27
Stations
30
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
1.03
expected fatality-equivalents per year, natural hazards only
16th highest of 100
Life Safety per 100k
0.87
natural hazard fatality-equivalents per 100,000 residents
32nd highest of 100
Natural Hazard Property Loss
$23.6M
expected building loss per year, natural hazards only
39th highest of 100
Property Loss per Resident
$199
natural hazard building loss per resident per year
88th 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 Henderson County, the largest single contributor is Cold Wave, 65% of the life-safety total.

Henderson County carries an expected 1 natural hazard fatality-equivalents and $23.6M in building loss per year. Rank chips compare the 100 North Carolina counties. Nationally, Henderson County ranks 572nd of 3,222 U.S. counties for life-safety loss, 1948th for life safety per 100k residents, 770th for property loss, and 2768th 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 Henderson 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 Henderson County.

Talk to us about Henderson County See what a department sees

Loss Breakdown

58%
35%
7%
Property (buildings): $23.6M (58.0%)
Life safety: $14.2M (34.8%)
Agriculture: $3.0M (7.3%)

Total expected annual loss: $40,743,746 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 Henderson 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
$9.2M
Tornado
$1.7M
Strong Wind
$1.5M
Lightning
$930K
Earthquake
$487K
Ice Storm
$151K

By property loss ($/yr)

Inland Flooding
$18.0M
Earthquake
$1.6M
Tornado
$1.5M
Ice Storm
$1.3M
Hurricane
$420K
Hail
$240K

Census Tract Risk Map

Shaded by quintile across the census tracts in Henderson 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

8%
58%
33%
Career: 8% (1)
Combination: 58% (7)
Volunteer: 33% (4)
Residents per Station
4,388
census population per registered station
Stations per 100k
22.8
registered stations per 100,000 residents

Department composition covers the 12 departments registered in NERIS Public for Henderson 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 Henderson 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 12 departments
Department ▲ Est. Population ▲ Life-Safety Loss ▼ NRI Rating ▲ Stations ▲
Blue Ridge Fire & Rescue, Inc. 28,971 $3.6M Relatively High 2
Fletcher Fire And Rescue Department 29,896 $3.5M Relatively High 3
Valley Hill Fire And Rescue 26,197 $3.1M Relatively High 3
Dana Fire & Rescue, Inc. 22,516 $2.9M Relatively Moderate 1
Edneyville Fire & Rescue 21,835 $2.7M Relatively Moderate 3
Mountain Home Fire & Rescue 16,162 $1.9M Relatively Moderate 3
Etowah Horse Shoe Volunteer Fire And Rescue 15,392 $1.9M Relatively High 4
Saluda Volunteer Fire And Rescue, Inc. 12,840 $1.7M Relatively High 2
Mills River Fire And Rescue 9,800 $1.1M Relatively High 1
Hendersonville Fire Department 7,784 $1.0M Relatively Moderate 3
Bat Cave Volunteer Fire & Rescue Department 4,777 $558.9K Relatively High 1
Gerton Volunteer Fire Department 4,777 $558.9K Relatively High 1
No departments match your search.

Risk Snapshot

11.6%
Poverty Rate
26.5%
Age 65+
15.1%
Disability Rate
12.4%
Uninsured
34.5%
Pre-1980 Housing
15.2%
Mobile Homes
12.0%
Vacancy Rate
3.0%
Wood Heat
$72,199
Median HH Income

FEMA Disaster Declarations

10
Last 10 Years
13
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