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Risk & Response

Transylvania County, NC

Community risk profile | NRI Score: 66.9 Relatively High

33,691
Population
10
Departments
21
Stations
12
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
0.55
expected fatality-equivalents per year, natural hazards only
36th highest of 100
Life Safety per 100k
1.64
natural hazard fatality-equivalents per 100,000 residents
3rd highest of 100
Natural Hazard Property Loss
$9.7M
expected building loss per year, natural hazards only
71st highest of 100
Property Loss per Resident
$288
natural hazard building loss per resident per year
51st 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 Transylvania County, the largest single contributor is Cold Wave, 76% of the life-safety total.

Transylvania County carries an expected under 1 natural hazard fatality-equivalents and $9.7M in building loss per year. Rank chips compare the 100 North Carolina counties. Nationally, Transylvania County ranks 987th of 3,222 U.S. counties for life-safety loss, 884th for life safety per 100k residents, 1541st for property loss, and 1950th 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 Transylvania 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 Transylvania County.

Talk to us about Transylvania County See what a department sees

Loss Breakdown

54%
42%
Property (buildings): $9.7M (54.2%)
Life safety: $7.6M (42.3%)
Agriculture: $632K (3.5%)

Total expected annual loss: $17,920,912 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)

Cold Wave
$5.8M
Inland Flooding
$522K
Tornado
$473K
Strong Wind
$342K
Lightning
$294K
Landslide
$45K

By property loss ($/yr)

Inland Flooding
$7.9M
Tornado
$548K
Ice Storm
$417K
Earthquake
$338K
Hurricane
$144K
Hail
$107K

Census Tract Risk Map

Shaded by quintile across the census tracts in Transylvania 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%
90%
Combination: 10% (1)
Volunteer: 90% (9)
Residents per Station
1,604
census population per registered station
Stations per 100k
62.3
registered stations per 100,000 residents

Department composition covers the 10 departments registered in NERIS Public for Transylvania 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 Transylvania 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 ▲
Brevard Fire Department 27,710 $6.4M Relatively High 1
Lake Logan Cecil Volunteer Fire Department 12,667 $3.2M Very High 2
Little River Volunteer Fire Department 10,197 $2.5M Relatively High 3
Cedar Mountain Fire Rescue, Inc. 9,385 $2.0M Relatively High 1
Connestee Fire Rescue, Inc. 7,956 $1.7M Relatively High 3
Lake Toxaway Fire Rescue, Inc. 4,963 $1.2M Relatively Moderate 2
North Transylvania Volunteer Fire Department 3,859 $1.1M Very High 2
Cruso Volunteer Fire Department 4,616 $995.9K Very High 4
Balsam Grove Volunteer Fire Department 3,633 $902.8K Relatively Moderate 2
Canada Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. 3,391 $793.8K Relatively High 1
No departments match your search.

Risk Snapshot

13.2%
Poverty Rate
30.9%
Age 65+
16.1%
Disability Rate
11.3%
Uninsured
42.0%
Pre-1980 Housing
13.0%
Mobile Homes
24.3%
Vacancy Rate
4.2%
Wood Heat
$69,014
Median HH Income

FEMA Disaster Declarations

11
Last 10 Years
14
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