Arborlook
Arborlook Insights
Risk & Response

Orange County, NC

Community risk profile | NRI Score: 36.7 Relatively Low

149,678
Population
11
Departments
48
Stations
42
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
0.68
expected fatality-equivalents per year, natural hazards only
27th highest of 100
Life Safety per 100k
0.46
natural hazard fatality-equivalents per 100,000 residents
72nd highest of 100
Natural Hazard Property Loss
$39.9M
expected building loss per year, natural hazards only
23rd highest of 100
Property Loss per Resident
$267
natural hazard building loss per resident per year
58th 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 Orange County, the largest single contributor is Tornado, 33% of the life-safety total.

Orange County carries an expected under 1 natural hazard fatality-equivalents and $39.9M in building loss per year. Rank chips compare the 100 North Carolina counties. Nationally, Orange County ranks 830th of 3,222 U.S. counties for life-safety loss, 2635th for life safety per 100k residents, 463rd for property loss, and 2136th 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 Orange 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 Orange County.

Talk to us about Orange County See what a department sees

Loss Breakdown

80%
19%
Property (buildings): $39.9M (80.3%)
Life safety: $9.4M (18.8%)
Agriculture: $433K (0.9%)

Total expected annual loss: $49,711,436 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)

Tornado
$3.1M
Heat Wave
$2.4M
Strong Wind
$1.1M
Lightning
$1.0M
Cold Wave
$656K
Winter Weather
$344K

By property loss ($/yr)

Inland Flooding
$33.2M
Hurricane
$2.7M
Tornado
$2.2M
Hail
$666K
Earthquake
$559K
Strong Wind
$217K

Census Tract Risk Map

Shaded by quintile across the census tracts in Orange 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

18%
55%
27%
Career: 18% (2)
Combination: 55% (6)
Volunteer: 27% (3)
Residents per Station
3,118
census population per registered station
Stations per 100k
32.1
registered stations per 100,000 residents

Department composition covers the 11 departments registered in NERIS Public for Orange 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 Orange 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 11 departments
Department ▲ Est. Population ▲ Life-Safety Loss ▼ NRI Rating ▲ Stations ▲
Chapel Hill Fire Department 63,359 $4.0M Relatively Low 13
North Chatham Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. 36,644 $1.8M Relatively Moderate 7
Carrboro Fire-Rescue Department 24,332 $1.6M Relatively Low 2
Orange Rural Fire Department 23,414 $1.4M Relatively Moderate 5
City Of Mebane Fire Department 29,845 $1.3M Relatively Low 3
New Hope Volunteer Fire Department Of Orange County, Inc. 11,491 $601.0K Relatively Low 3
Eno Fire And Emergency Services, Inc 8,267 $473.8K Relatively Low 4
Orange Grove Volunteer Fire Company 6,465 $391.7K Relatively Low 1
Efland Volunteer Fire Department 4,356 $269.4K Relatively Low 4
Cedar Grove Fire Department 3,694 $220.8K Relatively Low 3
White Cross Volunteer Fire Department Inc 3,372 $217.4K Relatively Low 3
No departments match your search.

Risk Snapshot

12.5%
Poverty Rate
16.1%
Age 65+
9.1%
Disability Rate
6.5%
Uninsured
31.5%
Pre-1980 Housing
5.2%
Mobile Homes
8.8%
Vacancy Rate
0.9%
Wood Heat
$91,127
Median HH Income

FEMA Disaster Declarations

13
Last 10 Years
18
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