Arborlook
Risk & Response
by Arborlook Insights

Jefferson County, NY

Community risk profile | NRI Score: 23.2 Relatively Low

115,040
Population
32
Departments
48
Stations
36
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, separate from agriculture.

Natural Hazard Life Safety
0.28
expected fatality-equivalents per year, natural hazards only
33rd highest of 62
Life Safety per 100k
0.25
natural hazard fatality-equivalents per 100,000 residents
48th highest of 62
Natural Hazard Property Loss
$21.7M
expected building loss per year, natural hazards only
37th highest of 62
Property Loss per Resident
$189
natural hazard building loss per resident per year
44th highest of 62

These figures cover natural hazards only. Structure fire, EMS, and motor vehicle incidents are not included in the National Risk Index and are not counted here, so this is not an all-cause life safety measure. For Jefferson County, the largest single contributor is Cold Wave, 47% of the life-safety total.

Jefferson County carries an expected under 1 natural hazard fatality-equivalents and $21.7M in building loss per year. Rank chips compare the 62 New York counties. Nationally, Jefferson County ranks 1576th of 3,222 U.S. counties for life-safety loss, 3091st for life safety per 100k residents, 829th for property loss, and 2859th 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 one half of the picture. The other half is what your departments run on: fire deaths and injuries, cause of ignition, dollar loss per incident. That comes from NERIS incident reporting, and it grows as departments serving Jefferson County enroll. Our Regional tier brings it together across your jurisdiction, with participating departments, alongside response time analytics, cross-department benchmarking, and coverage gap analysis.

Talk to us about Jefferson County See what a department sees

What Drives the Loss

84%
15%
Property (buildings): $21.7M (84.5%)
Life safety: $3.9M (15.1%)
Agriculture: $96K (0.4%)

Total expected annual loss: $25,726,417 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
$1.8M
Winter Weather
$587K
Strong Wind
$478K
Tornado
$342K
Lightning
$210K
Heat Wave
$167K

By property loss ($/yr)

Inland Flooding
$19.3M
Strong Wind
$841K
Earthquake
$786K
Ice Storm
$473K
Tornado
$142K
Hurricane
$82K

Census Tract Risk Map

Shaded by quintile across the census tracts in Jefferson 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

9%
88%
Career: 9% (3)
Combination: 3% (1)
Volunteer: 88% (28)
Residents per Station
2,397
census population per registered station
Stations per 100k
41.7
registered stations per 100,000 residents

Department composition covers the 32 departments registered in NERIS Public for Jefferson County, NY. 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 Jefferson 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 32 departments
Department Est. Population Life-Safety Loss NRI Rating Stations
Watertown Fire Department 22,619 $773.7K Relatively Low 6
Black River Fire Department, Inc. 23,790 $768.9K Very Low 1
Fort Drum Army Fire & Emergency Services 23,790 $768.9K Very Low 4
Watertown Fire Rescue 19,497 $676.4K Relatively Low 3
Smithville Fire Department 15,002 $599.2K Relatively Low 1
Rodman Volunteer Fire Department 13,999 $511.4K Relatively Moderate 1
Northpole Fire Company 13,123 $417.1K Very Low 1
Pamelia Volunteer Fire Department 13,123 $417.1K Very Low 1
Theresa Fire Department, Inc. 11,372 $391.1K Relatively Low 1
Town of Orleans Fire District 11,545 $383.9K Relatively Low 3
Felts Mills Volunteer Fire Company, Inc. 10,157 $336.0K Relatively Low 1
Redwood Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. 8,128 $277.4K Relatively Moderate 1
West Carthage Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. 7,743 $261.4K Relatively Moderate 1
Adams Center Fire Department 6,542 $247.2K Relatively Low 1
Adams Fire Department 6,542 $247.2K Relatively Low 1
Great Bend Fire Department, Inc. 6,822 $217.7K Very Low 1
Sackets Harbor Volunteer Fire Company, Inc. 5,964 $211.8K Very Low 2
Clayton Volunteer Fire Department 6,350 $211.7K Relatively Low 2
Carthage Fire Department 5,528 $202.2K Relatively Low 1
Belleville Volunteer Fire Department 5,725 $196.6K Relatively Low 1
Brownville Volunteer Fire Department 5,245 $169.7K Relatively Low 3
Glen Park Fire Department 5,245 $169.7K Relatively Low 1
Three Mile Bay Fire Company, Inc. 4,128 $154.5K Very Low 1
Antwerp Volunteer Fire Department 4,288 $148.6K Relatively Moderate 1
Oxbow Volunteer Fire Company, Inc. 4,288 $148.6K Relatively Moderate 1
Alexandria Bay Fire Department 3,927 $134.9K Relatively Low 1
Cape Vincent Fire Department 3,764 $128.2K Very Low 1
Ellisburg Volunteer Fire Department 3,353 $117.8K Relatively Low 1
Lorraine Volunteer Fire Company, Inc. 3,353 $117.8K Relatively Low 1
Philadelphia Fire Department 3,251 $115.3K Relatively Low 1
Deferiet Fire Department 2,582 $89.5K Relatively Moderate 1
Chaumont Volunteer Fire Department 2,152 $78.0K Very Low 1
No departments match your search.

Risk Snapshot

13.7%
Poverty Rate
15.1%
Age 65+
14.9%
Disability Rate
5.5%
Uninsured
56.3%
Pre-1980 Housing
10.1%
Mobile Homes
23.0%
Vacancy Rate
5.0%
Wood Heat
$69,135
Median HH Income

FEMA Disaster Declarations

6
Last 10 Years
12
Last 25 Years
Snowstorm
Most Frequent

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