FEMA Records
15
Below median
Colorado · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Jefferson County, CO
15 FEMA disaster declarations (1969-2024), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively High. Most common hazard: Fire.
- 15
- FEMA declarations
- 6
- Major disasters
- 95
- NRI risk · Relatively High
- Fire
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Jefferson County. Its 15 FEMA declarations are 47% above the Colorado county mean and exceed the count for 23% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 5%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 5%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively High
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 15
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 488
- 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 08059 · Jefferson County 15 declarations · rank 2442/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-LIGHT · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-HIGH · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-MID 15
- MAJOR-LIGHT 40%
- RANK-LOWER #2,442
- PHOTO-FINISH Polk
- NRI-HIGH 95
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Fire
- VS-ST-ABOVE +47%
Nearest declaration peer: Polk, OR (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Colorado state profile
Jefferson County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Jefferson County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Flathead · near 15
Flathead · near
15 declarations
- Jefferson · this county 15
Jefferson · this county
15 declarations
- Murray · near 15
Murray · near
15 declarations
- Polk · near 15
Polk · near
15 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Jefferson County carries 15 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2442 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Jefferson County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Jefferson County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Jefferson County
15 23rd percentile higher than 23% 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
Jefferson County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Jefferson County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $77.4M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Hail carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Very 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 Jefferson County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 488 paid claims, totaling $2.7M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $5.5K 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. Jefferson County's 15 federal records stand 47% above the Colorado county mean of 10.2. 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 94.9/100 (Relatively High). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively High (roughly $231.4M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Very Low and community resilience Relatively High, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Hail stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Very High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 6.9 times per year here, based on 261 historical events on record.
52 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Jefferson County, CO · 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
11/30
15 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.7x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
18/25
15 declarations (1.5x state county average of 10)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
10/25
6 of 15 declarations are major disasters (40%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Jefferson County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Jefferson 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
40%
Mixed major share
NRI risk score
95
Relatively High
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Jefferson 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hail | Very High | an average of 6.9 times per year |
| Lightning | Very High | an average of 58 times per year |
| Wildfire | Relatively High | roughly once every 104 years |
| Winter Weather | Very High | an average of 19 times per year |
| Landslide | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 2 years |
| Tornado | Relatively High | roughly once every 2 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively High | an average of 1.3 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively High | roughly once every 1 years |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1,667 years |
| Avalanche | Relatively Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 3 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 67 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 0.2 modeled event-days per year |
| Volcanic Activity | Very Low | roughly once every 10,000 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 23 modeled event-days per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Fire 5
Flood 5
Biological 2
Snowstorm 2
Coastal Storm 1
What Fire declarations mean here
Fire is the most frequent declaration type on Jefferson County's record, 33% 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 40.0%
of all 15 declarations
Emergency - 5 33.3%
of all 15 declarations
Fire Management - 4 26.7%
of all 15 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 | |
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2013 | 2 | |
| 2012 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1973 | 1 | |
| 1969 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 15 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 15 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5526 | QUARRY FIRE | FM | Fire | 2024-08-01 |
| 4731 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Flood | 2023-08-25 |
| 4498 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-28 |
| 3436 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4145 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2013-09-14 |
| 3365 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | EM | Flood | 2013-09-12 |
| 2975 | LOWER NORTH FORK FIRE | FM | Fire | 2012-03-26 |
| 2873 | INDIAN GULCH FIRE | FM | Fire | 2011-03-21 |
| 3270 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2007-01-07 |
| 3224 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Coastal Storm | 2005-09-05 |
| 3185 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2003-04-09 |
| 1421 | WILDFIRES | DR | Fire | 2002-06-19 |
| 2309 | HIGH MEADOWS FIRE | FM | Fire | 2000-06-12 |
| 385 | HEAVY RAINS, SNOWMELT AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1973-05-23 |
| 261 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1969-05-19 |
Storm Events in Colorado
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Jefferson County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 4,913 | 0 | 100 | $2.9B |
| Winter Weather | 2,620 | 3 | 23 | $22.5K |
| High Wind | 1,992 | 5 | 6 | $20.9M |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 1,741 | 2 | 11 | $5.4M |
| Winter Storm | 1,497 | 0 | 0 | $848.0K |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
488
Total Paid
$2.7M
Avg Per Claim
$5.5K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively High
Score: 94.9/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively High
$231.4M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Hail Very High
Lightning Very High
Wildfire Relatively High
Winter Weather Very High
Landslide Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively High
Riverine Flooding Relatively High
Strong Wind Relatively High
Earthquake Relatively Low
Avalanche Relatively Low
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Volcanic Activity Very Low
Drought 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: Hail
Hail is among the most expensive hazards in the model relative to how little it threatens life. It concentrates on roofs, vehicles and crops, and a single severe storm can generate an insurance loss across a metropolitan area without a single injury.
Worth noting for Jefferson County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Hail carries the highest modeled rating (Very High), while the county's declaration history is led by Fire. That is not a contradiction, the two measure genuinely different things. Declarations record federal ACTION, which requires damage costly enough to exceed state and local capacity; the Risk Index models EXPECTED annual loss across all 18 hazards whether or not any declaration ever followed. A hazard can be the county's largest modeled exposure and never once have driven a declaration.
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
Jefferson County's closest FEMA peer: St. Clair County, IL
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Jefferson County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Similar modeled NRI score
Jefferson County: NRI composite 94.9 (Relatively High).
Similar Major-disaster share
Jefferson County: 6 of 15 of its declarations are Major.
Closest declaration profiles
Jefferson County shows 15 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 Jefferson County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Jefferson 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: 94.9 (Relatively High).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 15. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Jefferson County's NFIP claims file (488 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 Jefferson County?
The most common disaster type in Jefferson County is Fire, with 5 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (5), Biological (2), Snowstorm (2).
How does Jefferson County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Colorado average?
FEMA lists 15 declaration records for Jefferson County. That is 47% above the Colorado county mean of 10.2. Its count is also 28% 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 Jefferson County received?
Jefferson County has received 6 major disaster declarations, representing 40% of all 15 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Jefferson County filed?
Jefferson County has 488 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $2.7M in payments, with an average of $5.5K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Jefferson County?
No. In Jefferson County, Hail has the highest National Risk Index rating (Very High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $77.4M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Jefferson County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Jefferson County was 2013, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1969 to 2024.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Jefferson County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Jefferson County, Colorado has an overall risk score of 94.9 out of 100 (Relatively High). Social vulnerability here rates Very Low, while community resilience comes in at Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively High, representing $231.4M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Jefferson County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Jefferson County as of the latest release is Hail (risk rating: Very High). Other significant hazards include Lightning (Very High) and Wildfire (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts hail here at an average of 6.9 times per year, drawn from 261 historical events on record. 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 Jefferson County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Colorado profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events