FEMA Records
24
Above median
Oregon · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Josephine County, OR
24 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2025), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Fire.
- 24
- FEMA declarations
- 10
- Major disasters
- 90
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Fire
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Josephine County. Its 24 FEMA declarations are 44% above the Oregon county mean and exceed the count for 66% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 10%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 10%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Moderate
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 24
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 81
- 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 41033 · Josephine County 24 declarations · rank 1058/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-LIGHT · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-MID · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-HEAVY 24
- MAJOR-LIGHT 42%
- RANK-LOWER #1,058
- PHOTO-FINISH Eddy
- NRI-MID 90
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Fire
- VS-ST-ABOVE +44%
Nearest declaration peer: Eddy, ND (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Oregon state profile
Josephine County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Josephine County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Deuel · near 24
Deuel · near
24 declarations
- Eddy · near 24
Eddy · near
24 declarations
- Josephine · this county 24
Josephine · this county
24 declarations
- Wichita · near 24
Wichita · near
24 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Josephine County carries 24 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1058 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Josephine County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Josephine County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Josephine County
24 Top 34% higher than 66% 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
Josephine County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Josephine County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $32.0M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), 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 Josephine County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 81 paid claims, totaling $687.6K. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $8.5K 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. Josephine County's 24 federal records stand 44% above the Oregon county mean of 16.6. 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 90.2/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Moderate (roughly $70.0M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively High and community resilience Relatively Moderate, 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 59 years here.
60 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Josephine County, OR · 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
17/30
24 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.2x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
18/25
24 declarations (1.4x state county average of 17)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
10/25
10 of 24 declarations are major disasters (42%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Josephine County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Josephine 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
42%
Mixed major share
NRI risk score
90
Relatively Moderate
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Josephine 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 59 years |
| Earthquake | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 65 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 2 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Moderate | 8 modeled event-days per year |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | an average of 3.4 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 21 times per year |
| Avalanche | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 6 times per year |
| Hail | Very Low | roughly once every 9 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 25 modeled event-days per year |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | roughly once every 67 years |
| Volcanic Activity | Very Low | roughly once every 5,000 years |
| Strong Wind | Very Low | roughly once every 20 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 61 years |
| Cold Wave | Very Low | roughly once every 259 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Fire 12
Severe Storm 5
Flood 3
Biological 2
Coastal Storm 1
Drought 1
What Fire declarations mean here
Fire is the most frequent declaration type on Josephine County's record, 50% 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 45.8%
of all 24 declarations
Major Disaster - 10 41.7%
of all 24 declarations
Emergency - 3 12.5%
of all 24 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 4 | |
| 2018 | 2 | |
| 2017 | 2 | |
| 2016 | 1 | |
| 2015 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 3 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 2 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 1 | |
Show 1 earlier declaration years
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 24 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 24 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4881 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2025-07-22 |
| 4562 | WILDFIRES AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR | Fire | 2020-09-15 |
| 5369 | SLATER FIRE | FM | Fire | 2020-09-10 |
| 4499 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-28 |
| 3429 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 5275 | HUGO ROAD FIRE | FM | Fire | 2018-09-03 |
| 5256 | GARNER FIRE COMPLEX | FM | Fire | 2018-07-19 |
| 4328 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2017-08-08 |
| 4296 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2017-01-25 |
| 5153 | GOLD CANYON FIRE | FM | Fire | 2016-08-31 |
| 5096 | KRAUSS LANE FIRE | FM | Fire | 2015-08-09 |
| 5039 | BRIMSTONE FIRE | FM | Fire | 2013-08-02 |
| 5037 | DOUGLAS FIRE COMPLEX | FM | Fire | 2013-07-28 |
| 5036 | PACIFICA FIRE | FM | Fire | 2013-07-19 |
| 1632 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2006-03-20 |
| 3228 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Coastal Storm | 2005-09-07 |
| 2579 | DEER CREEK FIRE | FM | Fire | 2005-08-25 |
| 2539 | OR-REDWOOD HIGHWAY WILDFIRE-08-04-2004 | FM | Fire | 2004-08-04 |
| 2453 | OR - BISCUIT FIRE - 07/28/02 | FM | Fire | 2002-07-28 |
| 1160 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, LAND AND MUDSLIDES, FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-01-23 |
Show 4 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1099 | HIGH WINDS, SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1996-02-09 |
| 3039 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-04-29 |
| 413 | SEVERE STORMS, SNOWMELT & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1974-01-25 |
| 184 | HEAVY RAINS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1964-12-24 |
Storm Events in Oregon
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Josephine County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Wind | 859 | 13 | 10 | $3.2B |
| Heavy Snow | 654 | 2 | 0 | $139.2M |
| Frost/Freeze | 391 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Wildfire | 311 | 15 | 38 | $15.1M |
| Flood | 244 | 3 | 1 | $68.4M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
81
Total Paid
$687.6K
Avg Per Claim
$8.5K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 90.2/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Moderate
$70.0M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively High
Community Resilience
Relatively Moderate
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Wildfire Relatively High
Earthquake Relatively Moderate
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Moderate
Landslide Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Avalanche Very Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Hail Very Low
Drought Very Low
Ice Storm Very Low
Volcanic Activity Very Low
Strong Wind Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Cold Wave 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 Josephine 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
Josephine County's closest FEMA peer: Aiken County, SC
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Josephine County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Josephine County shows 24 FEMA declarations, led by Fire.
Similar Major-disaster share
Josephine County: 10 of 24 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Josephine County: NRI composite 90.2 (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 Josephine County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Josephine 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: 90.2 (Relatively Moderate).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 24. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Josephine County's NFIP claims file (81 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 Josephine County?
The most common disaster type in Josephine County is Fire, with 12 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (5), Flood (3), Biological (2).
How does Josephine County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Oregon average?
FEMA lists 24 declaration records for Josephine County. That is 44% above the Oregon county mean of 16.6. Its count is also 16% 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 Josephine County received?
Josephine County has received 10 major disaster declarations, representing 42% of all 24 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Josephine County filed?
Josephine County has 81 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $687.6K in payments, with an average of $8.5K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Josephine County?
No. In Josephine County, Wildfire has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $32.0M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Josephine County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Josephine County was 2020, with 4 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2025.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Josephine County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Josephine County, Oregon has an overall risk score of 90.2 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). On social vulnerability the county rates Relatively High; on community resilience, Relatively Moderate. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Moderate, representing $70.0M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Josephine County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Josephine County as of the latest release is Wildfire (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Earthquake (Relatively Moderate) and Riverine Flooding (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts wildfire here at roughly once every 59 years. These scores are based on FEMA's analysis of historical event frequency, 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 Josephine County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Oregon profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events