FEMA Records
13
Low volume
Colorado · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Las Animas County, CO
13 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2020), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Fire.
- 13
- FEMA declarations
- 4
- Major disasters
- 24
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Fire
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Las Animas County. Its 13 FEMA declarations are 27% above the Colorado county mean and exceed the count for 17% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it safer than 24%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Safer than 24%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 13
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 4
- 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.
How does Las Animas County compare?
Las Animas County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
13 17th percentile higher than 17% 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 · 2026-08-03
Las Animas County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the Colorado county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Las Animas County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $3.6M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), 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 Las Animas County's hazard record show?
Declaration frequency
The FEMA register is busy by both local and national comparisons. It contains 13 entries for Las Animas County, including 4 Major Disaster records, 27% above the Colorado county mean. Across the 55-year span, that works out to 0.2 declarations a year. Fire leads the file with 4 entries. Declaration type records the federal action taken, not every assistance program approved.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county's FEMA National Risk Index composite lands at 23.6/100 (Very Low), a modest reading against the rest of the country. Expected Annual Loss is rated Very Low (roughly $6.8M 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 319 years here.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 4 claims and $11.0K 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. Las Animas County's 13 federal records stand 27% 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.
51 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Las Animas 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
9/30
13 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.6x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
16/25
13 declarations (1.3x state county average of 10)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
8/25
4 of 13 declarations are major disasters (31%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 different disaster types declared in Las Animas County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. Colorado Avg
+27%
State avg: 10.2
vs. National Avg
-37%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.2
Over 55 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Las Animas 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
31%
Mixed major share
NRI risk score
24
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Las Animas 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 319 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 14 times per year |
| Avalanche | Relatively Low | roughly once every 30 years |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | an average of 1.8 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 55 times per year |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 135 modeled event-days per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 1.2 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 2 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 1,190 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 0.2 modeled event-days per year |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | roughly once every 67 years |
| Strong Wind | 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 4
Snowstorm 3
Biological 2
Coastal Storm 1
Severe Storm 1
Drought 1
Tornado 1
What Fire declarations mean here
Fire is the most frequent declaration type on Las Animas County's record, 31% 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).
Emergency - 6 46.2%
of all 13 declarations
Major Disaster - 4 30.8%
of all 13 declarations
Fire Management - 3 23.1%
of all 13 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2007 | 2 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 3 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 13 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 13 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4498 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-28 |
| 3436 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 3270 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2007-01-07 |
| 3271 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2007-01-07 |
| 2613 | MAURICIO CANYON FIRE | FM | Fire | 2006-01-08 |
| 3224 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Coastal Storm | 2005-09-05 |
| 3185 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2003-04-09 |
| 1421 | WILDFIRES | DR | Fire | 2002-06-19 |
| 2413 | CO - JAMES JOHN / FISHER - 06/03/02 | FM | Fire | 2002-06-03 |
| 2412 | CO - SPRING FIRE - 06/03/02 | FM | Fire | 2002-06-03 |
| 1276 | CO-FLOODING 4/30/99 | DR | Severe Storm | 1999-05-17 |
| 3025 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-01-29 |
| 200 | TORNADOES, SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Tornado | 1965-06-19 |
Storm Events in Colorado
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Las Animas 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
4
Total Paid
$11.0K
Avg Per Claim
$2.7K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 23.6/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$6.8M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Wildfire Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Avalanche Relatively Low
Landslide Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Drought Relatively Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Ice Storm Very Low
Strong Wind Very Low
Volcanic Activity No Rating
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 Las Animas 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
Las Animas County's closest FEMA peer: Clay County, NC
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Las Animas County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Las Animas County shows 13 FEMA declarations, led by Fire.
Similar Major-disaster share
Las Animas County: 4 of 13 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Las Animas County: NRI composite 23.6 (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 Las Animas County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 13 FEMA declarations, Las Animas 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).
Related
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Las Animas County?
The most common disaster type in Las Animas County is Fire, with 4 declarations. Other disaster types include Snowstorm (3), Biological (2), Coastal Storm (1).
How does Las Animas County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Colorado average?
FEMA lists 13 declaration records for Las Animas County. That is 27% above the Colorado county mean of 10.2. Its count is also 37% 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 Las Animas County received?
Las Animas County has received 4 major disaster declarations, representing 31% of all 13 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Las Animas County filed?
Las Animas County has 4 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $11.0K in payments, with an average of $2.7K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Las Animas County?
No. In Las Animas County, Wildfire has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $3.6M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Las Animas County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Las Animas County was 2002, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2020.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Las Animas County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Las Animas County, Colorado has an overall risk score of 23.6 out of 100 (Very Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Relatively Moderate and community resilience is Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $6.8M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Las Animas County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Las Animas County as of the latest release is Wildfire (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Winter Weather (Relatively Moderate) and Avalanche (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts wildfire here at roughly once every 319 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.
What this means for Las Animas County
Las Animas County, CO has 13 federal declaration records, 27% more than the Colorado county mean of 10; its history sits in PlainHazard's high activity band.
- Within this above-state-average declaration file, emergency leads with 6 of 13 records; the category describes past federal action, not the next likely hazard. Colorado overview
- The state benchmark and national rank point the same way: this count tops the Colorado mean and the totals for 17% of 3,266 U.S. counties. Most-disaster rankings
- A short NFIP claims file cannot establish low flood exposure; the data guide explains the limits of each federal measure. Disaster-data guide
An above-average declaration count records past federal responses; it does not predict the next event. Current warnings come from the National Weather Service and local emergency officials.
PlainHazard derives this profile from FEMA's Disaster Declarations Summaries and National Risk Index data. The declaration comparison covers 3,266 U.S. counties and county equivalents in this database, refreshed as of 2026-08-03. Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
All federal data sources used on this page
- FEMA OpenFEMA, Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 - all federally-declared disasters for this county. fema.gov/openfema/disaster-declarations
- FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) - per-county per-hazard risk ratings and expected annual loss. hazards.fema.gov/nri
- NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database - state-level storm/severe-weather event records, 2015-2025. ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainHazard Editorial
Verify with FEMA → · Verify with FEMA NRI → · Verify with NOAA →
Every figure on PlainHazard is rendered directly from FEMA federal disaster data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or national statistics report, the data & editorial changelog, or report a data error.