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Risk & Response

Northampton County, PA

Community risk profile | NRI Score: 42.9 Relatively Moderate

318,580
Population
33
Departments
79
Stations
74
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
1.18
expected fatality-equivalents per year, natural hazards only
13th highest of 67
Life Safety per 100k
0.37
natural hazard fatality-equivalents per 100,000 residents
27th highest of 67
Natural Hazard Property Loss
$73.8M
expected building loss per year, natural hazards only
12th highest of 67
Property Loss per Resident
$232
natural hazard building loss per resident per year
44th highest of 67

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 Northampton County, the largest single contributor is Heat Wave, 33% of the life-safety total.

Northampton County carries an expected 1 natural hazard fatality-equivalents and $73.8M in building loss per year. Rank chips compare the 67 Pennsylvania counties. Nationally, Northampton County ranks 497th of 3,222 U.S. counties for life-safety loss, 2833rd for life safety per 100k residents, 294th for property loss, and 2480th 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 Northampton 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 Northampton County.

Talk to us about Northampton County See what a department sees

Loss Breakdown

82%
18%
Property (buildings): $73.8M (81.7%)
Life safety: $16.2M (17.9%)
Agriculture: $366K (0.4%)

Total expected annual loss: $90,369,901 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)

Heat Wave
$5.3M
Cold Wave
$5.0M
Tornado
$2.2M
Lightning
$1.4M
Winter Weather
$801K
Earthquake
$615K

By property loss ($/yr)

Inland Flooding
$62.9M
Hurricane
$5.0M
Tornado
$2.2M
Earthquake
$2.2M
Strong Wind
$1.2M
Lightning
$142K

Census Tract Risk Map

Shaded by quintile across the census tracts in Northampton 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%
85%
Career: 6% (2)
Combination: 9% (3)
Volunteer: 85% (28)
Residents per Station
4,033
census population per registered station
Stations per 100k
24.8
registered stations per 100,000 residents

Department composition covers the 33 departments registered in NERIS Public for Northampton County, PA. 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 Northampton 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 33 departments
Department ▲ Est. Population ▲ Life-Safety Loss ▼ NRI Rating ▲ Stations ▲
Blue Ridge Hook & Ladder Fire Company #1 Inc. 83,092 $9.6M Relatively Moderate 2
Lehigh Township Volunteer Fire Company 1 76,529 $5.6M Relatively Moderate 1
Bethlehem Fire Department 73,134 $5.1M Relatively Moderate 13
Eastern Salisbury Fire Department 42,354 $5.1M Relatively High 2
Diamond Fire Company 22,079 $2.3M Relatively Moderate 1
Hecktown Volunteer Fire Company #1 29,876 $1.5M Relatively Moderate 1
Bethlehem Township Volunteer Fire Company 25,006 $1.3M Relatively Low 3
Easton Fire Department 25,192 $1.2M Relatively Moderate 6
Lower Mt. Beth/Sandt's Eddy Fire Department 21,583 $1.1M Relatively Moderate 1
Palmer Municipal Fire Department 20,611 $1.1M Relatively Low 2
Bangor Fire Department 19,686 $981.3K Relatively Moderate 6
Forks Township Fire Department 16,757 $810.8K Relatively Moderate 3
Charotin Hose Company 11,290 $594.5K Relatively Moderate 1
Hanover Township Volunteer Fire Company #1 10,671 $580.3K Relatively Low 3
Lower Saucon Fire Rescue 10,538 $541.1K Relatively Low 4
Klecknersville Rangers Volunteer Fire Company 9,539 $476.0K Relatively Low 1
Northampton Fire Department 8,819 $465.9K Relatively Moderate 1
Williams Township Fire Company No 1 7,230 $365.2K Relatively High 4
Upper Nazareth Fire Department 7,329 $354.9K Relatively High 2
Wilson Boro Fire Department 5,705 $317.0K Relatively High 2
Plainfield Township Volunteer Fire Company 6,241 $309.1K Relatively Moderate 2
Allen Township Fire Company 1 5,500 $280.3K Relatively Moderate 1
East Allen Township Volunteer Fire Department 5,195 $259.5K Relatively Moderate 3
Washington Township Volunteer Fire Company 5,164 $256.0K Relatively High 1
Vigilance Hose Company #1 5,076 $255.9K Relatively Low 2
Dewey Fire Company 1 4,798 $247.5K Relatively Low 1
East Bangor Fire Department 5,090 $233.3K Relatively Low 1
Portland Hook & Ladder Company #1 5,090 $233.3K Relatively Low 2
Lookout Fire Company # 1 2,937 $145.4K Very Low 1
North Catasauqua Fire Department 2,390 $125.9K Relatively Low 1
Columbia Fire Company No. 1 1,115 $52.0K Very Low 1
West Easton Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 845 $45.1K Relatively Low 3
Tatamy Volunteer Fire Company 596 $28.4K Very Low 1
No departments match your search.

Risk Snapshot

8.8%
Poverty Rate
20.3%
Age 65+
12.4%
Disability Rate
4.4%
Uninsured
60.2%
Pre-1980 Housing
2.5%
Mobile Homes
5.3%
Vacancy Rate
1.4%
Wood Heat
$92,903
Median HH Income

FEMA Disaster Declarations

5
Last 10 Years
17
Last 25 Years
Hurricane
Most Frequent

Every department in your region, on one briefing

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