FEMA Records
12
Low volume
Oregon · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Lake County, OR
12 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2021), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Fire.
- 12
- FEMA declarations
- 5
- Major disasters
- 19
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Fire
- Top hazard
The verdict
Lake County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 12 declarations, more than 14% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 28% below the Oregon county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county safer than 19%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Safer than 19%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 12
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 10
- 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 41037 · Lake County 12 declarations · rank 2793/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-LIGHT · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 12
- MAJOR-LIGHT 42%
- RANK-LOWER #2,793
- PHOTO-FINISH Johnson
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Fire
- VS-ST-BELOW -28%
Nearest declaration peer: Johnson, KS (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Oregon state profile
Lake County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Lake County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Crane · near 12
Crane · near
12 declarations
- Johnson · near 12
Johnson · near
12 declarations
- Lake · this county 12
Lake · this county
12 declarations
- Seward · near 12
Seward · near
12 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Lake County carries 12 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2793 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Lake County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Lake County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Lake County
12 14th percentile higher than 14% 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
Lake County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Lake County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $3.7M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Wildfire carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate). 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 Lake County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county's FEMA National Risk Index composite lands at 19.1/100 (Very Low), a modest reading against the rest of the country. Expected Annual Loss is rated Very Low (roughly $6.0M in annualized losses), tempered or compounded by a Relatively Moderate social-vulnerability score and Very Low community-resilience score. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Wildfire carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 261 years here.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 10 claims and $151.0K 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.
Start with the state benchmark: a Oregon county averages 16.6 federal declaration records, while Lake County has 12. The gap is 28% below that mean. Fewer entries indicate a quieter history of recorded federal actions, not immunity from a hazard and not a prediction about what happens next.
43 /100
Historical Activity Index
Moderate historical activity
Lake 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) Moderate
9/30
12 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.6x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
9/25
12 declarations (0.7x state county average of 17)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
10/25
5 of 12 declarations are major disasters (42%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Lake County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Lake 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
19
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Lake 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 Moderate | roughly once every 261 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 19 times per year |
| Volcanic Activity | Very Low | roughly once every 270 years |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 59 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | an average of 2.2 times per year |
| Avalanche | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 6 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 2.6 modeled event-days per year |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 15 times per year |
| Drought | Very Low | 124 modeled event-days per year |
| Cold Wave | Very Low | roughly once every 6 years |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | roughly once every 67 years |
| Hail | Very Low | roughly once every 10 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 12 years |
| Strong Wind | Very Low | roughly once every 54 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Fire 5
Biological 2
Severe Storm 2
Coastal Storm 1
Drought 1
Flood 1
What Fire declarations mean here
Fire is the most frequent declaration type on Lake County's record, 42% 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 - 5 41.7%
of all 12 declarations
Fire Management - 4 33.3%
of all 12 declarations
Emergency - 3 25.0%
of all 12 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2 | |
| 2020 | 4 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 12 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 12 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5409 | PATTON MEADOW FIRE | FM | Fire | 2021-08-16 |
| 5396 | BOOTLEG FIRE | FM | Fire | 2021-07-10 |
| 4562 | WILDFIRES AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR | Fire | 2020-09-15 |
| 5372 | BRATTAIN FIRE | FM | Fire | 2020-09-12 |
| 4499 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-28 |
| 3429 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 3228 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Coastal Storm | 2005-09-07 |
| 1510 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-02-19 |
| 2444 | OR - WINTER FIRE - 07/15/2002 | FM | Fire | 2002-07-16 |
| 1160 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, LAND AND MUDSLIDES, FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-01-23 |
| 3039 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-04-29 |
| 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 Lake 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
10
Total Paid
$151.0K
Avg Per Claim
$15.1K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 19.1/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$6.0M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Wildfire Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Volcanic Activity Very Low
Earthquake Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Avalanche Very Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Lightning Very Low
Drought Very Low
Cold Wave Very Low
Ice Storm Very Low
Hail Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Strong Wind 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 Lake County the two measures on this page point the same way: Wildfire is the county's highest-rated modeled hazard (Relatively Moderate), 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
Lake County's closest FEMA peer: Hardin County, OH
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Lake County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Lake County shows 12 FEMA declarations, led by Fire.
Similar Major-disaster share
Lake County: 5 of 12 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Lake County: NRI composite 19.1 (Very 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 Lake County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Lake 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: 19.1 (Very Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 12. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 12 FEMA declarations, Lake 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 Lake County?
The most common disaster type in Lake County is Fire, with 5 declarations. Other disaster types include Biological (2), Severe Storm (2), Coastal Storm (1).
How does Lake County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Oregon average?
The typical Oregon county has 16.6 FEMA declaration records; Lake County has 12, or 28% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 42% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Lake County received?
Lake County has received 5 major disaster declarations, representing 42% of all 12 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Lake County filed?
Lake County has 10 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $151.0K in payments, with an average of $15.1K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Lake County?
No. In Lake County, Wildfire has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $3.7M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Lake County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Lake County was 2020, with 4 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2021.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Lake County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Lake County, Oregon has an overall risk score of 19.1 out of 100 (Very Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Relatively Moderate; on community resilience, Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $6.0M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Lake County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Lake County is Wildfire (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Winter Weather (Relatively Moderate) and Volcanic Activity (Very Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts wildfire here at roughly once every 261 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 Lake County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Oregon profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events