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Risk & Response

King County, WA

Community risk profile | NRI Score: 71.3 Relatively High

2.3M
Population
28
Departments
284
Stations
495
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
49.0
expected fatality-equivalents per year, natural hazards only
1st highest of 39
Life Safety per 100k
2.14
natural hazard fatality-equivalents per 100,000 residents
10th highest of 39
Natural Hazard Property Loss
$1.2B
expected building loss per year, natural hazards only
1st highest of 39
Property Loss per Resident
$509
natural hazard building loss per resident per year
16th highest of 39

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 King County, the largest single contributor is Earthquake, 71% of the life-safety total.

King County carries an expected 49 natural hazard fatality-equivalents and $1.2B in building loss per year. Rank chips compare the 39 Washington counties. Nationally, King County ranks 4th of 3,222 U.S. counties for life-safety loss, 562nd for life safety per 100k residents, 11th for property loss, and 828th 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 King 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 King County.

Talk to us about King County See what a department sees

Loss Breakdown

63%
37%
Property (buildings): $1.2B (63.4%)
Life safety: $671.9M (36.6%)
Agriculture: $57K (0.0%)

Total expected annual loss: $1,835,214,497 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)

Earthquake
$474.5M
Avalanche
$166.0M
Heat Wave
$18.9M
Tsunami
$5.6M
Tornado
$2.5M
Volcanic Activity
$1.3M

By property loss ($/yr)

Earthquake
$740.2M
Inland Flooding
$416.7M
Coastal Flooding
$1.4M
Tornado
$1.0M
Ice Storm
$1.0M
Landslide
$878K

Census Tract Risk Map

Shaded by quintile across the census tracts in King 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

54%
43%
Career: 54% (15)
Combination: 43% (12)
Volunteer: 4% (1)
Residents per Station
8,053
census population per registered station
Stations per 100k
12.4
registered stations per 100,000 residents

Department composition covers the 28 departments registered in NERIS Public for King County, WA. 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 King 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 28 departments
Department ▲ Est. Population ▲ Life-Safety Loss ▼ NRI Rating ▲ Stations ▲
Boeing Fire Department 789,580 $188.7M Relatively High 5
Seattle Fire Department 789,529 $188.7M Relatively High 73
Eastside Fire & Rescue 225,927 $109.7M Relatively High 17
Puget Sound Regional Fire Authority 265,630 $87.8M Relatively High 18
Bellevue Fire Department 176,862 $63.1M Relatively High 23
East Pierce Fire & Rescue 109,509 $44.8M Relatively High 12
Milton Fire Department 109,509 $44.8M Relatively High 1
Pierce County Fire District 8 109,509 $44.8M Relatively High 1
Renton Regional Fire Authority 134,041 $25.7M Relatively High 8
Valley Regional Fire Authority 98,431 $25.3M Relatively High 7
Shoreline Fire Department 107,548 $22.3M Relatively High 11
South King Fire & Rescue 163,584 $21.9M Relatively High 9
King County Fire Protection District #2 78,995 $19.3M Relatively High 4
North Highline Fire District 78,995 $19.3M Relatively High 2
Redmond Fire Department 108,288 $16.7M Relatively High 17
Kirkland Fire Department 98,552 $15.7M Relatively High 6
Black Diamond Fire Department 25,634 $15.5M Relatively High 0
Mountain View Fire & Rescue 25,634 $15.5M Relatively High 44
City Of Snoqualmie Fire Department 13,632 $10.8M Relatively High 1
Enumclaw Fire Department/ King County Fire District #28/ Rescue 1 13,045 $7.3M Very High 3
City Of Bothell Fire Department 52,863 $6.1M Relatively High 3
King County Fire Protection District #47 2,083 $5.7M Very High 4
King County Fire Protection District No. 27 4,725 $5.7M Very High 1
King County Fire Protection District 20 18,023 $4.3M Relatively High 3
King County Fire District 13 10,005 $3.0M Very High 5
King County International Airport Aircraft Rescue Firefighting 341 $845.8K Very High 1
King County Fire District #50 131 $639.7K Very High 3
Port Of Seattle Fire Department 73 $24.4K Very High 2
No departments match your search.

Risk Snapshot

8.6%
Poverty Rate
14.0%
Age 65+
10.3%
Disability Rate
5.2%
Uninsured
45.5%
Pre-1980 Housing
1.4%
Mobile Homes
6.2%
Vacancy Rate
0.6%
Wood Heat
$136,506
Median HH Income

FEMA Disaster Declarations

8
Last 10 Years
18
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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