FEMA Records
11
Low volume
Idaho · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Elmore County, ID
11 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2020), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Fire.
- 11
- FEMA declarations
- 6
- Major disasters
- 52
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Fire
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Elmore County. Its 11 FEMA declarations are 32% above the Idaho county mean and exceed the count for 12% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 48%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 48%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 11
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 11
- 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 16039 · Elmore County 11 declarations · rank 2850/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-MID 11
- MAJOR-MID 55%
- RANK-LOWER #2,850
- PHOTO-FINISH Meeker
- NRI-LOW 52
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Fire
- VS-ST-ABOVE +32%
Nearest declaration peer: Meeker, MN (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Idaho state profile
Elmore County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Elmore County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Davis · near 11
Davis · near
11 declarations
- Elmore · this county 11
Elmore · this county
11 declarations
- Meeker · near 11
Meeker · near
11 declarations
- Wasatch · near 11
Wasatch · near
11 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Elmore County carries 11 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2850 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Elmore County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Elmore County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Elmore County
11 12th percentile higher than 12% 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
Elmore County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Elmore County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county carries a high composite score on FEMA's National Risk Index, 52.0/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $21.7M in annualized losses), and a Very Low social-vulnerability profile combined with Very Low community resilience shapes how much of that raw exposure becomes realized harm. 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 35 years here.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 11 claims and $108.0K 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. Elmore County's 11 federal records stand 32% above the Idaho county mean of 8.3. 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.
54 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Elmore County, ID · 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
8/30
11 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.5x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
17/25
11 declarations (1.3x state county average of 8)
Major Disaster Share High
14/25
6 of 11 declarations are major disasters (55%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Elmore County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Elmore 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
55%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
52
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Elmore 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 35 years |
| Avalanche | Relatively High | roughly once every 6 years |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 13 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 2.6 modeled event-days per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 159 years |
| Volcanic Activity | Very Low | roughly once every 3,333 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 12 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 22 times per year |
| Drought | Very Low | 52 modeled event-days per year |
| Hail | Very Low | roughly once every 5 years |
| Cold Wave | Very Low | roughly once every 11 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 5 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 3
Fire 3
Biological 2
Hurricane 1
Severe Storm 1
Drought 1
What Fire declarations mean here
Fire is the most frequent declaration type on Elmore County's record, 27% 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).
Major Disaster - 6 54.5%
of all 11 declarations
Emergency - 3 27.3%
of all 11 declarations
Fire Management - 2 18.2%
of all 11 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2017 | 2 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2012 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 11 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 11 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4534 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-09 |
| 3467 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4333 | FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2017-08-27 |
| 4310 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2017-04-21 |
| 5043 | ELK FIRE | FM | Fire | 2013-08-13 |
| 5006 | TRINITY RIDGE FIRE | FM | Fire | 2012-08-15 |
| 3244 | HURRICANE KATRINA | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 1341 | WILDFIRES | DR | Fire | 2000-09-01 |
| 1154 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, MUD AND LANDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-01-04 |
| 3040 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-05-05 |
| 186 | HEAVY RAINS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1964-12-31 |
Storm Events in Idaho
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Elmore County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heavy Snow | 1,495 | 1 | 13 | $100.9M |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 1,087 | 9 | 26 | $3.6M |
| Winter Storm | 492 | 4 | 15 | $1.0M |
| High Wind | 396 | 4 | 6 | $10.6M |
| Winter Weather | 297 | 10 | 15 | $1.7M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
11
Total Paid
$108.0K
Avg Per Claim
$9.8K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 52.0/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$21.7M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Wildfire Relatively High
Avalanche Relatively High
Landslide Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Volcanic Activity Very Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Lightning Very Low
Drought Very Low
Hail Very Low
Cold Wave 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 Elmore 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
Elmore County's closest FEMA peer: Lapeer County, MI
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Elmore County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Elmore County shows 11 FEMA declarations, led by Fire.
Similar Major-disaster share
Elmore County: 6 of 11 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Elmore County: NRI composite 52.0 (Relatively Low).
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 Elmore County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Elmore 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: 52.0 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 11. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 11 FEMA declarations, Elmore 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 Elmore County?
The most common disaster type in Elmore County is Fire, with 3 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (3), Biological (2), Hurricane (1).
How does Elmore County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Idaho average?
FEMA lists 11 declaration records for Elmore County. That is 32% above the Idaho county mean of 8.3. Its count is also 47% 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 Elmore County received?
Elmore County has received 6 major disaster declarations, representing 55% of all 11 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Elmore County filed?
Elmore County has 11 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $108.0K in payments, with an average of $9.8K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Elmore County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Elmore County was 2017, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2020.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Elmore County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Elmore County, Idaho has an overall risk score of 52.0 out of 100 (Relatively Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Very Low; on community resilience, Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $21.7M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Elmore County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Elmore County is Wildfire (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Avalanche (Relatively High) and Landslide (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts wildfire here at roughly once every 35 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 Elmore County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Idaho profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events