FEMA Records
19
Below median
Nevada · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Elko County, NV
19 FEMA disaster declarations (1977-2020), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Fire.
- 19
- FEMA declarations
- 3
- Major disasters
- 88
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Fire
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Elko County. Its 19 FEMA declarations are 53% above the Nevada county mean and exceed the count for 41% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 12%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 12%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Moderate
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 19
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 31
- 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 32007 · Elko County 19 declarations · rank 1784/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-LOW · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-MID · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-HIGH
- DECL-MID 19
- MAJOR-LOW 16%
- RANK-LOWER #1,784
- PHOTO-FINISH Bartow
- NRI-MID 88
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Fire
- VS-ST-HIGH +53%
Nearest declaration peer: Bartow, GA (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Nevada state profile
Elko County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Elko County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Bartow · near 19
Bartow · near
19 declarations
- Elko · this county 19
Elko · this county
19 declarations
- Union · near 19
Union · near
19 declarations
- Warren · near 19
Warren · near
19 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Elko County carries 19 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1784 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Elko County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Elko County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Elko County
19 41st percentile higher than 41% 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
Elko County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Elko County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 87.9/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Moderate (roughly $74.6M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively Low and community resilience Very 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 32 years here.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 31 claims and $141.9K paid in total. PlainHazard calls 1-49 claims a light registry record, a label for this dataset rather than a finding that flood exposure is low. A short claims history can also reflect insurance take-up, the period covered, or losses that were never insured.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Elko County's 19 federal records stand 53% 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.
52 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Elko 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) Moderate
14/30
19 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.9x national county average)
County Disaster Density Very High
19/25
19 declarations (1.5x state county average of 12)
Major Disaster Share Low
4/25
3 of 19 declarations are major disasters (16%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Elko County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Elko 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
16%
Few majors
NRI risk score
88
Relatively Moderate
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Elko 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 32 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively High | an average of 22 times per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 112 years |
| Avalanche | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 30 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | an average of 8 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 2.2 modeled event-days per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 1.8 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 30 times per year |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 85 modeled event-days per year |
| Cold Wave | Very Low | roughly once every 5 years |
| Hail | Very Low | roughly once every 15 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Volcanic Activity | Very Low | roughly once every 10,000 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Fire 11
Biological 2
Severe Storm 2
Snowstorm 2
Hurricane 1
Drought 1
What Fire declarations mean here
Fire is the most frequent declaration type on Elko County's record, 58% 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 - 11 57.9%
of all 19 declarations
Emergency - 5 26.3%
of all 19 declarations
Major Disaster - 3 15.8%
of all 19 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2017 | 2 | |
| 2012 | 1 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2006 | 3 | |
| 2005 | 7 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 19 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 19 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4523 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-04 |
| 3443 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 5191 | OIL WELL FIRE | FM | Fire | 2017-07-17 |
| 4307 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2017-03-27 |
| 2972 | INDIAN CREEK FIRE | FM | Fire | 2011-10-03 |
| 2717 | MURPHY FIRE COMPLEX | FM | Fire | 2007-07-23 |
| 2670 | MUDD FIRE | FM | Fire | 2006-08-24 |
| 2648 | SUZIE FIRE | FM | Fire | 2006-06-26 |
| 1629 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2006-02-03 |
| 3243 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 2581 | CHANCE FIRE | FM | Fire | 2005-08-29 |
| 2578 | VOR-MCCARTY FIRE | FM | Fire | 2005-08-22 |
| 2568 | CARLIN FIRE | FM | Fire | 2005-07-16 |
| 2567 | CONTACT FIRE | FM | Fire | 2005-07-16 |
| 3204 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2005-02-23 |
| 3202 | RECORD AND/OR NEAR RECORD SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2005-02-17 |
| 2366 | NV - TEN MILE FIRE - 07/05/2001 | FM | Fire | 2001-07-05 |
| 2356 | NV - SPRING CREEK FIRE - 1999 | FM | Fire | 2000-01-13 |
| 3041 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-06-11 |
Storm Events in Nevada
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Elko 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
31
Total Paid
$141.9K
Avg Per Claim
$4.6K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 87.9/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Moderate
$74.6M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Wildfire Relatively High
Winter Weather Relatively High
Earthquake Relatively Low
Avalanche Relatively Moderate
Landslide Very Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Drought Relatively Low
Cold Wave Very Low
Hail Very Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Volcanic Activity Very Low
Tornado Very Low
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 Elko 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
Elko County's closest FEMA peer: Pike County, KY
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Elko County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Similar modeled NRI score
Elko County: NRI composite 87.9 (Relatively Moderate).
Similar Major-disaster share
Elko County: 3 of 19 of its declarations are Major.
Closest declaration profiles
Elko County shows 19 FEMA declarations, led by Fire.
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 Elko County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Elko 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: 87.9 (Relatively Moderate).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 19. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 19 FEMA declarations, Elko County sits in the high-volume declaration band - see how that count ranks against other U.S. counties.
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 Elko County?
The most common disaster type in Elko County is Fire, with 11 declarations. Other disaster types include Biological (2), Severe Storm (2), Snowstorm (2).
How does Elko County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Nevada average?
FEMA lists 19 declaration records for Elko County. That is 53% above the Nevada county mean of 12.4. Its count is also 8% below 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 Elko County received?
Elko County has received 3 major disaster declarations, representing 16% of all 19 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Elko County filed?
Elko County has 31 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $141.9K in payments, with an average of $4.6K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Elko County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Elko County was 2005, with 7 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1977 to 2020.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Elko County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Elko County, Nevada has an overall risk score of 87.9 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). On social vulnerability the county rates Relatively Low; on community resilience, Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Moderate, representing $74.6M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Elko County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Elko County is Wildfire (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Winter Weather (Relatively High) and Earthquake (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts wildfire here at roughly once every 32 years. FEMA derives these ratings from historical event frequency, the assets exposed, and the community's vulnerability profile.
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 Elko County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Nevada profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events