FEMA Records
24
Above median
California · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Mariposa County, CA
24 FEMA disaster declarations (1969-2024), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Fire.
- 24
- FEMA declarations
- 10
- Major disasters
- 86
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Fire
- Top hazard
The verdict
Mariposa County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 24 declarations, more than 66% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 16% below the California county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 14%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 14%
- 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
- 9
- fire declarations, the most common hazard here
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 Mariposa County compare?
Mariposa County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
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 · 2026-08-03
Mariposa County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the California county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Mariposa County is led by Wildfire (about $15.4M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Very High), while Landslide 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 Mariposa County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 86.4/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Low (roughly $38.1M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Very High and community resilience Relatively Low, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Landslide stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 27 times per year here.
Declaration frequency
Nationally, Mariposa County's 24 FEMA records form a high-volume history; within California, however, the count is 16% below the county mean. 10 entries carry the Major Disaster classification. The largest incident group is Fire, appearing 9 times. The full 55-year record averages 0.4 declarations annually. A DR label alone does not say whether Individual Assistance, Public Assistance, or both followed.
Reading the federal records together
No paid-claim row for this county appears in the NFIP county table used by PlainHazard. That absence is not evidence that flooding never occurred: the register observes claims under federal flood-insurance policies, not uninsured losses, emergency reports, or every flood outside the program. The FEMA declaration history below is therefore the available federal-action record on this page.
Start with the state benchmark: a California county averages 28.5 federal declaration records, while Mariposa County has 24. The gap is 16% 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.
56 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Mariposa County, CA · 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 Moderate
11/25
24 declarations (0.8x state county average of 29)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
10/25
10 of 24 declarations are major disasters (42%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 different disaster types declared in Mariposa County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. California Avg
-16%
State avg: 28.5
vs. National Avg
+16%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.4
Over 55 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Mariposa 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
86
Relatively Moderate
Source: FEMA National Risk Index FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Mariposa 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Landslide | Relatively High | an average of 27 times per year |
| Wildfire | Relatively High | roughly once every 64 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively High | 6.1 modeled event-days per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 13 times per year |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 83 modeled event-days per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 2.1 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 18 times per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 35 years |
| Volcanic Activity | Very Low | roughly once every 1,667 years |
| Avalanche | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
| Strong Wind | Very Low | roughly once every 21 years |
| Hail | Very Low | roughly once every 7 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 8 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Fire 9
Severe Storm 5
Flood 5
Biological 2
Hurricane 1
Coastal Storm 1
Drought 1
What Fire declarations mean here
Fire is the most frequent declaration type on Mariposa County's record, 38% 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 - 10 41.7%
of all 24 declarations
Fire Management - 8 33.3%
of all 24 declarations
Emergency - 6 25.0%
of all 24 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 | |
| 2023 | 4 | |
| 2022 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 2 | |
| 2017 | 3 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 2 | |
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1995 | 1 | |
| 1983 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
Show 1 earlier declaration years
| 1969 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5503 | FRENCH FIRE | FM | Fire | 2024-07-05 |
| 4699 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2023-04-03 |
| 3592 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | EM | Flood | 2023-03-10 |
| 4683 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2023-01-14 |
| 3591 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | EM | Flood | 2023-01-09 |
| 5445 | OAK FIRE | FM | Fire | 2022-07-23 |
| 4482 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-22 |
| 3428 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4434 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2019-05-17 |
| 4431 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2019-05-01 |
| 5202 | RAILROAD FIRE | FM | Fire | 2017-09-02 |
| 5192 | DETWILER FIRE | FM | Fire | 2017-07-17 |
| 4308 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2017-04-01 |
| 5077 | BRIDGE FIRE | FM | Fire | 2014-09-05 |
| 5049 | RIM FIRE | FM | Fire | 2013-08-23 |
| 3287 | WILDFIRES | EM | Fire | 2008-06-28 |
| 3248 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 2555 | RIX-CA-OLD HIGHWAY WILDFIRE 9/13/04 | FM | Fire | 2004-09-13 |
| 2552 | CA-BEAR FIRE-09-02-2004 | FM | Fire | 2004-09-02 |
| 1155 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, MUD AND LANDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-01-04 |
Show 4 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1046 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING LANDSLIDES, MUD FLOW | DR | Severe Storm | 1995-03-12 |
| 677 | COASTAL STORMS, FLOODS, SLIDES & TORNADOES | DR | Coastal Storm | 1983-02-09 |
| 3023 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-01-20 |
| 253 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1969-01-26 |
Storm Events in California
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Mariposa County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Wind | 4,070 | 13 | 27 | $228.2M |
| Flood | 3,132 | 26 | 25 | $985.1M |
| Heavy Snow | 1,814 | 6 | 0 | $1.6M |
| Dense Fog | 1,605 | 52 | 148 | $2.8M |
| Drought | 1,421 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 86.4/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$38.1M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Relatively Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Landslide Relatively High
Wildfire Relatively High
Heat Wave Relatively High
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Drought Relatively Moderate
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Earthquake Relatively Low
Volcanic Activity Very Low
Avalanche Very Low
Strong Wind Very Low
Hail Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Cold Wave No Rating
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) Ratings reflect relative scores among all US counties. Data: hazards.fema.gov/nri
The model's sharpest exposure here: Landslide
Landslide risk is a function of slope, soil and water, so it is usually a SECOND-ORDER hazard: it is triggered by the rainfall, snowmelt, wildfire burn scars or seismic shaking that came first. That is why a county can carry high landslide exposure whose realized damage is recorded under a flood or storm declaration instead.
Worth noting for Mariposa County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Landslide carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively 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
Mariposa County's closest FEMA peer: Newberry County, SC
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Mariposa County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Mariposa County shows 24 FEMA declarations, led by Fire.
Similar Major-disaster share
Mariposa County: 10 of 24 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Mariposa County: NRI composite 86.4 (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 Mariposa County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 24 FEMA declarations, Mariposa 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 Mariposa County?
The most common disaster type in Mariposa County is Fire, with 9 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (5), Flood (5), Biological (2).
How does Mariposa County's FEMA declaration record compare with the California average?
The typical California county has 28.5 FEMA declaration records; Mariposa County has 24, or 16% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 16% higher. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Mariposa County received?
Mariposa County has received 10 major disaster declarations, representing 42% of all 24 disaster declarations.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Mariposa County?
No. In Mariposa County, Landslide has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Wildfire leads Expected Annual Loss at about $15.4M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Mariposa County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Mariposa County was 2023, with 4 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1969 to 2024.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Mariposa County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Mariposa County, California has an overall risk score of 86.4 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). The county's social vulnerability rating is Very High and community resilience is Relatively Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $38.1M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Mariposa County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Mariposa County as of the latest release is Landslide (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Wildfire (Relatively High) and Heat Wave (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts landslide here at an average of 27 times per year. 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.
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 Mariposa County
Against a California county mean of 29 declarations, Mariposa County, CA records 24, or 16% fewer. PlainHazard classifies that historical total as high activity.
- Major Disaster is the largest group (10 of 24) in a declaration history that remains below its state benchmark; frequency here is not a forecast. California overview
- Nationally the county exceeds 66% of recorded county totals, but its own California benchmark is higher. The ranking keeps those two contexts separate. Most-disaster rankings
- With no NFIP county row, the declaration register and modeled NRI remain distinct evidence rather than substitutes for a claims history. Disaster-data guide
A below-average federal record is not a safety guarantee. Use National Weather Service alerts and local emergency-management notices for present conditions, not this historical comparison.
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.