Whatcom County, WA

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.

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 Whatcom County, the largest single contributor is Avalanche, 74% of the life-safety total.

Whatcom County carries an expected 8 natural hazard fatality-equivalents and $77.6M in building loss per year. Rank chips compare the 39 Washington counties. Nationally, Whatcom County ranks 56th of 3,222 U.S. counties for life-safety loss, 265th for life safety per 100k residents, 282nd for property loss, and 1591st for property loss per resident. Computed from census tract data covering every resident, independent of fire department boundaries.

Loss Breakdown

Total expected annual loss: $180,667,729 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.

Census Tract Risk Map

Shaded by quintile across the census tracts in Whatcom 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

Department composition covers the 8 departments registered in NERIS Public for Whatcom 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 Whatcom 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.

Risk Snapshot

FEMA Disaster Declarations