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Risk & Response

Harris County, TX

Community risk profile | NRI Score: 71.6 Relatively High

4.8M
Population
52
Departments
379
Stations
1,115
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
45.4
expected fatality-equivalents per year, natural hazards only
1st highest of 254
Life Safety per 100k
0.94
natural hazard fatality-equivalents per 100,000 residents
178th highest of 254
Natural Hazard Property Loss
$1.6B
expected building loss per year, natural hazards only
1st highest of 254
Property Loss per Resident
$330
natural hazard building loss per resident per year
112th highest of 254

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 Harris County, the largest single contributor is Tornado, 55% of the life-safety total.

Harris County carries an expected 45 natural hazard fatality-equivalents and $1.6B in building loss per year. Rank chips compare the 254 Texas counties. Nationally, Harris County ranks 5th of 3,222 U.S. counties for life-safety loss, 1840th for life safety per 100k residents, 5th for property loss, and 1639th 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 Harris 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 Harris County.

Talk to us about Harris County See what a department sees

Loss Breakdown

72%
28%
Property (buildings): $1.6B (71.9%)
Life safety: $622.1M (28.0%)
Agriculture: $1.1M (0.1%)

Total expected annual loss: $2,217,702,094 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
$344.4M
Cold Wave
$117.5M
Heat Wave
$80.4M
Inland Flooding
$35.3M
Hurricane
$29.3M
Lightning
$8.1M

By property loss ($/yr)

Inland Flooding
$1.1B
Hurricane
$428.0M
Tornado
$62.9M
Earthquake
$4.1M
Strong Wind
$3.8M
Ice Storm
$3.5M

Census Tract Risk Map

Shaded by quintile across the census tracts in Harris 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

29%
52%
19%
Career: 29% (15)
Combination: 52% (27)
Volunteer: 19% (10)
Residents per Station
12,766
census population per registered station
Stations per 100k
7.8
registered stations per 100,000 residents

Department composition covers the 52 departments registered in NERIS Public for Harris County, TX. 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 Harris 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 52 departments
Department ▲ Est. Population ▲ Life-Safety Loss ▼ NRI Rating ▲ Stations ▲
Houston Fire Department 2.4M $301.9M Relatively High 101
Cy-Fair Fire Department 556,695 $64.0M Relatively High 29
League City Fire Department 120,854 $26.3M Relatively Moderate 9
Klein Fire Department 188,275 $21.6M Relatively High 14
Pasadena Fire Department 153,584 $19.8M Relatively High 20
Harris County ESD 7 181,015 $19.6M Relatively High 9
Pearland Fire Department 164,768 $17.6M Relatively High 7
Community Volunteer Fire Department 151,877 $17.1M Relatively High 9
Harris County ESD 48 148,307 $16.8M Relatively High 9
Baytown Fire Department 104,459 $14.0M Relatively High 11
Missouri City Fire & Rescue Services 122,986 $13.9M Relatively High 10
La Porte Fire Department 85,174 $13.3M Relatively High 6
Harris County Esd 17 104,928 $13.1M Relatively High 5
Northwest Volunteer Fire Department 97,697 $12.2M Relatively High 4
Waller-Harris Emergency Services District 200 101,049 $11.4M Relatively High 16
Channelview Fire Department 76,870 $10.9M Relatively High 2
Cypress Creek Fire Department 90,112 $10.2M Relatively High 12
Eastex Freeway Volunteer Fire Department (Harris County Esd #10) 91,229 $9.9M Very High 8
Harris County Fire & Emergency Services Department 91,229 $9.9M Very High 1
Atascocita Fire Department 84,810 $9.8M Relatively High 8
Crosby Volunteer Fire Department 71,047 $9.4M Relatively High 5
Friendswood Volunteer Fire Department 41,888 $7.7M Relatively High 8
Sheldon Community Fire & Rescue 58,475 $6.8M Relatively High 5
Ponderosa Fire Department 54,752 $6.7M Relatively High 4
Westlake Volunteer Fire Department 53,907 $6.6M Relatively High 2
Harris County Esd 12 Fire Department (Cloverleaf Fire Department) 57,245 $6.6M Relatively High 2
Westfield Road Volunteer Fire Department 46,044 $6.6M Very High 2
Aldine Fire & Rescue 45,251 $5.6M Relatively High 4
Katy Fire Department 39,781 $4.4M Very High 4
Deer Park Volunteer Fire Department 34,679 $4.4M Relatively High 5
Champions Emergency Service District (Harris County ESD 29) 34,648 $3.7M Relatively High 2
Southeast Volunteer Fire Department 30,064 $3.7M Very High 2
Tomball Fire Department 29,862 $3.3M Relatively High 5
Bellaire Fire Department 17,365 $3.2M Very High 1
Seabrook Volunteer Fire Department Inc. 17,210 $2.9M Relatively High 4
Rosehill Fire Department 28,983 $2.7M Very High 3
Village Fire Department 19,631 $2.4M Relatively High 1
Highlands Volunteer Fire Department 15,346 $2.3M Relatively High 2
Humble Fire Rescue 15,790 $2.2M Very High 4
South Houston Volunteer Fire Department 16,447 $2.2M Relatively High 2
West University Place Fire Department 15,311 $2.0M Very High 2
Forest Bend Volunteer Fire Department 14,911 $1.7M Relatively Moderate 2
Huffman Fire Department 13,458 $1.7M Relatively High 4
Mont Belvieu Fire Department 12,246 $1.7M Very High 2
Webster Fire Department 12,806 $1.7M Relatively High 3
Jersey Village Fire Department 11,172 $1.4M Relatively Moderate 2
Galena Park Fire Department 10,262 $1.4M Relatively High 2
Jacinto City Fire Department 9,438 $1.2M Relatively High 1
Waller Volunteer Fire Department 13,270 $1.1M Relatively High 1
Nassau Bay Volunteer Fire Department 5,230 $964.5K Relatively Moderate 1
Southside Place Fire Department 1,752 $314.2K Relatively Moderate 1
Mcnair Volunteer Fire Department 1,750 $250.1K Relatively High 1
No departments match your search.

Risk Snapshot

16.3%
Poverty Rate
11.7%
Age 65+
11.0%
Disability Rate
20.9%
Uninsured
37.1%
Pre-1980 Housing
2.5%
Mobile Homes
8.4%
Vacancy Rate
0.0%
Wood Heat
$85,025
Median HH Income

FEMA Disaster Declarations

12
Last 10 Years
26
Last 25 Years
Flood
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.

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