FEMA Records
7
Low volume
Oregon · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Malheur County, OR
7 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2024), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Biological.
- 7
- FEMA declarations
- 3
- Major disasters
- 35
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Biological
- Top hazard
The verdict
Start with the local benchmark for Malheur County: 7 FEMA declaration records are 58% below the Oregon county mean, even though the count is higher than 4% of counties in the national registry. On FEMA's distinct National Risk Index model, which combines expected loss with vulnerability and resilience, the county ranks safer than 35%.
- Safer than 35%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 7
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 48
- 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 41045 · Malheur County 7 declarations · rank 3136/3,266
DECL-LIGHT · MAJOR-LIGHT · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-MODERATE · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-LOW
- DECL-LIGHT 7
- MAJOR-LIGHT 43%
- RANK-LOWER #3,136
- PHOTO-FINISH Clinton
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-MODERATE Moderate
- TYPE-LEAD Biological
- VS-ST-LOW -58%
Nearest declaration peer: Clinton, IL (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Oregon state profile
Malheur County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Malheur County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Clinton · near 7
Clinton · near
7 declarations
- Lea · near 7
Lea · near
7 declarations
- Malheur · this county 7
Malheur · this county
7 declarations
- Marinette · near 7
Marinette · near
7 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Malheur County carries 7 FEMA declaration records, ranked 3136 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Malheur County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Malheur County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Malheur County
7 4th percentile higher than 4% 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
Malheur County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Malheur County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $6.6M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Low), 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 Malheur County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
FEMA's data shows an elevated National Risk Index composite of 34.8/100 for this county (Very Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Very Low (roughly $10.5M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability (Relatively Moderate) and community resilience (Very Low) both factor into how that raw exposure plays out on the ground. 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 177 years here.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 48 claims and $184.4K 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 Malheur County has 7. The gap is 58% 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.
36 /100
Historical Activity Index
Moderate historical activity
Malheur 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) Low
5/30
7 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.3x national county average)
County Disaster Density Low
5/25
7 declarations (0.4x state county average of 17)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
11/25
3 of 7 declarations are major disasters (43%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Malheur County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Malheur 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
43%
Mixed major share
NRI risk score
35
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Malheur 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 177 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 11 times per year |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | an average of 2.8 times per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 279 years |
| Avalanche | Relatively Low | roughly once every 100 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 3.6 modeled event-days per year |
| Hail | Relatively Low | roughly once every 9 years |
| Volcanic Activity | Very Low | roughly once every 3,333 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 21 times per year |
| Drought | Very Low | 93 modeled event-days per year |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | roughly once every 67 years |
| Strong Wind | Very Low | roughly once every 7 years |
| Cold Wave | Very Low | roughly once every 19 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 4 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Biological 2
Fire 1
Coastal Storm 1
Severe Storm 1
Drought 1
Flood 1
What Biological declarations mean here
Biological is the most frequent declaration type on Malheur County's record, 29% of its declarations. In practice this category is dominated by the COVID-19 declarations of 2020, which were issued across every US state and territory rather than in response to any local hazard event.
This has a direct consequence for how Malheur County's number should be read. Because those declarations reached essentially every county in the country, they raise every county's total by a similar amount and tell you nothing about local hazard exposure. A county whose record is led by Biological declarations is, in most cases, a county with a genuinely quiet weather-hazard history, the pandemic records are simply the largest thing in an otherwise short list.
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 - 3 42.9%
of all 7 declarations
Emergency - 3 42.9%
of all 7 declarations
Fire Management - 1 14.3%
of all 7 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 7 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 7 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5516 | DURKEE FIRE | FM | Fire | 2024-07-22 |
| 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 |
| 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 Malheur 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
48
Total Paid
$184.4K
Avg Per Claim
$3.8K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 34.8/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$10.5M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Wildfire Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Landslide Relatively Low
Earthquake Relatively Low
Avalanche Relatively Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Low
Volcanic Activity Very Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Drought Very Low
Ice Storm Very Low
Strong Wind 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.
Worth noting for Malheur County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Wildfire carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Moderate), while the county's declaration history is led by Biological. 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
Malheur County's closest FEMA peer: Mineral County, NV
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Malheur County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Malheur County shows 7 FEMA declarations, led by Biological.
Similar Major-disaster share
Malheur County: 3 of 7 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Malheur County: NRI composite 34.8 (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 Malheur County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Malheur 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: 34.8 (Very Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 7. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
FEMA's National Risk Index flags Wildfire as the top modeled exposure here (Relatively Moderate); the guide explains how that model differs from declaration counts.
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 Malheur County?
The most common disaster type in Malheur County is Biological, with 2 declarations. Other disaster types include Fire (1), Coastal Storm (1), Severe Storm (1).
How does Malheur County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Oregon average?
The typical Oregon county has 16.6 FEMA declaration records; Malheur County has 7, or 58% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 66% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Malheur County received?
Malheur County has received 3 major disaster declarations, representing 43% of all 7 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Malheur County filed?
Malheur County has 48 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $184.4K in payments, with an average of $3.8K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Malheur County?
No. In Malheur County, Wildfire has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $6.6M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Malheur County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Malheur County was 2020, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2024.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Malheur County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Malheur County, Oregon has an overall risk score of 34.8 out of 100 (Very Low). Social vulnerability here rates Relatively Moderate, while community resilience comes in at Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $10.5M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Malheur County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Malheur County is Wildfire (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Winter Weather (Relatively Moderate) and Landslide (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts wildfire here at roughly once every 177 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 Malheur County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Oregon profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events