FEMA Records
25
High volume
Nevada · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Douglas County, NV
25 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2025), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Fire.
- 25
- FEMA declarations
- 8
- Major disasters
- 84
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Fire
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Douglas County. Its 25 FEMA declarations are 101% above the Nevada county mean and exceed the count for 71% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 16%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 16%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Moderate
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 25
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 226
- NFIP flood insurance claims filed
FEMA's National Risk Index and its declaration registry are separate measures. This county's registry includes Fire Management Assistance (FM) records, which are not presidential disaster declarations, alongside Major Disaster (DR) and Emergency (EM) records.
FEMA OpenFEMA declaration desk
County FIPS 32005 · Douglas County 25 declarations · rank 872/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-LIGHT · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-MID · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-HIGH
- DECL-HEAVY 25
- MAJOR-LIGHT 32%
- RANK-LOWER #872
- PHOTO-FINISH Jefferson
- NRI-MID 84
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Fire
- VS-ST-HIGH +101%
Nearest declaration peer: Jefferson, AR (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Nevada state profile
Douglas County among high-volume declaration counties
FEMA declaration records among Douglas County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Benton · near 25
Benton · near
25 declarations
- Douglas · this county 25
Douglas · this county
25 declarations
- Jefferson · near 25
Jefferson · near
25 declarations
- Lafayette · near 25
Lafayette · near
25 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Douglas County carries 25 FEMA declaration records, ranked 872 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Where Douglas County ranks in the national declaration registry
Douglas County vs. high-volume counties in this registry
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Douglas County
25 Top 29% higher than 71% of 3,266 counties
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more counties. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 · 2026-08-25
Douglas County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Douglas County is led by Earthquake (about $18.5M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Very High), while Wildfire carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High). EAL and risk score use different inputs; they need not agree.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025 release) - Expected Annual Loss vs composite risk rating by hazard.
What does Douglas County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 226 paid claims, totaling $4.3M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $19.0K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Douglas County's 25 federal records stand 101% above the Nevada county mean of 12.4. That comparison describes how often federal action was recorded, including any Major Disaster, Emergency, and Fire Management entries shown on this page; it does not convert the count into future probability.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 84.4/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Low (roughly $44.6M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively Moderate and community resilience Relatively Low, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Wildfire stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 125 years here.
66 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Douglas County, NV · PlainHazard-derived composite from federal records
This 0–100 index is an explicit PlainHazard composite from FEMA declaration history only on the county surface (this DB has no county-level NOAA damage row) . It is not FEMA's National Risk Index, not a forecast, and not a safety, insurance, or preparedness rating. Open the calculator · Methodology
FEMA Declarations (1953–present) High
18/30
25 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.2x national county average)
County Disaster Density Very High
25/25
25 declarations (2.0x state county average of 12)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
8/25
8 of 25 declarations are major disasters (32%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Douglas County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Douglas County
How to read this radar
Each axis: NRI risk rating (Very Low-Very High) on a 0-100 scale. Rounder = broad exposure; spiky = one or two hazards dominate.
Major Disaster share
32%
Mixed major share
NRI risk score
84
Relatively Moderate
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Douglas County?
FEMA's National Risk Index models a historical event count and an annualized frequency for each hazard type. Most hazards are expressed as modeled occurrences per year; FEMA expresses drought and heat-wave frequency as event-days per year. These modeled frequencies are not forecasts.
| Hazard | NRI Risk Rating | Recurrence |
|---|---|---|
| Wildfire | Relatively High | roughly once every 125 years |
| Earthquake | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 20 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively High | an average of 15 times per year |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 69 modeled event-days per year |
| Avalanche | Relatively Low | roughly once every 10 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | an average of 2.3 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 19 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 2.9 modeled event-days per year |
| Volcanic Activity | Very Low | roughly once every 1,667 years |
| Hail | Very Low | roughly once every 6 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | roughly once every 7 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 38 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Fire 13
Severe Storm 4
Flood 3
Biological 2
Snowstorm 2
Hurricane 1
What Fire declarations mean here
Fire is the most frequent declaration type on Douglas County's record, 52% of its declarations. Wildfire is the one hazard here with its own dedicated federal instrument: the Fire Management Assistance Grant, which appears in this data as an FM record. An FMAG can be authorised while a fire is still burning, on a timescale of hours, because its purpose is to reimburse the cost of fighting a fire that threatens to become a major disaster.
That distinction matters when comparing counties. An FM declaration is not a presidential major disaster declaration and does not carry the same assistance programmes, so a fire-heavy county's total is not directly comparable with a hurricane-heavy county's total unless the declaration types are separated, which is why they are listed separately on this page.
Declaration counts describe past federal action. They are a record of what was declared, not a forecast of future hazard probability.
Declaration Types
What DR / EM / FM mean
FEMA categorizes declarations as Major Disasters (DR), Emergencies (EM), or Fire Management Assistance (FM).
Fire Management - 13 52.0%
of all 25 declarations
Major Disaster - 8 32.0%
of all 25 declarations
Emergency - 4 16.0%
of all 25 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1 | |
| 2024 | 1 | |
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2021 | 2 | |
| 2020 | 3 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2017 | 4 | |
| 2012 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 3 | |
| 2002 | 2 | |
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1986 | 1 | |
Show 1 earlier declaration years
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 25 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 25 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5592 | CONNER FIRE | FM | Fire | 2025-06-20 |
| 5509 | SPRING VALLEY FIRE | FM | Fire | 2024-07-16 |
| 4708 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2023-04-27 |
| 5402 | TAMARACK FIRE | FM | Fire | 2021-07-22 |
| 5390 | JACKS VALLEY FIRE | FM | Fire | 2021-06-09 |
| 5319 | NUMBERS FIRE | FM | Fire | 2020-07-07 |
| 4523 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-04 |
| 3443 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 5289 | CANYON FIRE | FM | Fire | 2019-08-21 |
| 5193 | PREACHER FIRE | FM | Fire | 2017-07-25 |
| 4307 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2017-03-27 |
| 4303 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2017-02-17 |
| 5154 | FRONTAGE FIRE | FM | Fire | 2016-10-02 |
| 2977 | TRE FIRE | FM | Fire | 2012-05-22 |
| 2969 | HOLBROOK FIRE | FM | Fire | 2011-09-10 |
| 2705 | SLEEPING ELEPHANT FIRE | FM | Fire | 2007-07-06 |
| 1629 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2006-02-03 |
| 3243 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 3204 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2005-02-23 |
| 3202 | RECORD AND/OR NEAR RECORD SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2005-02-17 |
Show 5 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2441 | NV - GATE FIRE COMPLEX - 07/15/02 | FM | Fire | 2002-07-15 |
| 2438 | NV - GONDOLA FIRE - 07/03/2002 | FM | Fire | 2002-07-03 |
| 1153 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, MUD AND LANDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-01-03 |
| 759 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1986-02-28 |
| 187 | SEVERE STORMS, HEAVY RAINS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1965-01-18 |
Storm Events in Nevada
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Douglas County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Wind | 1,647 | 0 | 2 | $10.4M |
| Heavy Snow | 926 | 0 | 0 | $123.0K |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 463 | 3 | 0 | $8.7M |
| Flash Flood | 315 | 7 | 2 | $36.7M |
| Excessive Heat | 252 | 376 | 17 | $0 |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
226
Total Paid
$4.3M
Avg Per Claim
$19.0K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 84.4/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$44.6M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Relatively Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Wildfire Relatively High
Earthquake Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively High
Drought Relatively Moderate
Avalanche Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Landslide Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Volcanic Activity Very Low
Hail Very Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Tornado Very Low
Cold Wave No Rating
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) Ratings reflect relative scores among all US counties. Data: hazards.fema.gov/nri
The model's sharpest exposure here: Wildfire
Wildfire risk in the model reflects fuel, terrain, weather and how much development sits in the wildland-urban interface. It is one of the few hazards where the exposure is materially changed by land management and building choices, not only by where the county happens to be.
For Douglas County the two measures on this page point the same way: Wildfire is the county's highest-rated modeled hazard (Relatively High), and Fire declarations also lead its federal record. Where the model and the declaration history agree, the reading is comparatively straightforward, the hazard is both expected and repeatedly realised.
National Risk Index ratings are modeled estimates of expected annual loss, not predictions of what will happen in any given year.
Data-matched county comparisons
Douglas County's closest FEMA peer: Lexington County, SC
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Douglas County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Douglas County shows 25 FEMA declarations, led by Fire.
Similar Major-disaster share
Douglas County: 8 of 25 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Douglas County: NRI composite 84.4 (Relatively Moderate).
How these peers are chosen
Cohort: Published U.S. county equivalents outside the source state or territory. Each metric keeps six ETL candidates; three unique destinations are shown after de-duplicating across axes. Declaration-volume ranking combines count and Major-disaster share and prefers a different leading incident type; Major-share ranks the Major fraction adjusted for volume; NRI ranks the modeled composite score only.
Retained FEMA snapshot feed for Douglas County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Douglas County: nearest out-of-state National Risk Index composite and nearest FEMA declaration count (floor ≥5 records). Record similarity only, not a forecast of the next hazard.
Similar NRI composite
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA NRI score. This county: 84.4 (Relatively Moderate).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 25. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Douglas County's NFIP claims file (226 claims) and FEMA declaration history measure different federal records - this guide separates them from modeled NRI risk.
More PlainHazard guides
- Most disaster-prone counties - U.S. counties ranked by FEMA declaration totals.
- Understanding disaster data - declarations vs storm events vs NRI scores.
- Preparing for natural disasters - household checklist (not county-specific advice).
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Douglas County?
The most common disaster type in Douglas County is Fire, with 13 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (4), Flood (3), Biological (2).
How does Douglas County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Nevada average?
FEMA lists 25 declaration records for Douglas County. That is 101% above the Nevada county mean of 12.4. Its count is also 21% above the national county mean of 20.7. A larger declaration history records more federal actions; it is not a forecast of the county's next hazard.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Douglas County received?
Douglas County has received 8 major disaster declarations, representing 32% of all 25 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Douglas County filed?
Douglas County has 226 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $4.3M in payments, with an average of $19.0K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Douglas County?
No. In Douglas County, Wildfire has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Earthquake leads Expected Annual Loss at about $18.5M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Douglas County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Douglas County was 2017, with 4 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2025.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Douglas County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Douglas County, Nevada has an overall risk score of 84.4 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). Social vulnerability here rates Relatively Moderate, while community resilience comes in at Relatively Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $44.6M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Douglas County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Douglas County as of the latest release is Wildfire (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Earthquake (Relatively Moderate) and Winter Weather (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts wildfire here at roughly once every 125 years. The underlying methodology weighs historical event frequency against exposed assets and community vulnerability.
Data Sources & Methodology
Disaster declaration data comes from the FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 API, which includes all federally declared disasters, emergencies, and fire management assistance grants.
Storm event data is sourced from the NOAA Storm Events Database (2015-2025), which tracks significant weather events including thunderstorms, tornadoes, floods, and winter storms.
Flood insurance data comes from the FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA claims dataset.
This data is provided for informational purposes only. FEMA disaster declarations represent federal response actions and may not capture all local emergencies or weather events.
FEMA OpenFEMA declarations + NRI for Douglas County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Nevada profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events