FEMA Records
16
Below median
Montana · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Sanders County, MT
16 FEMA disaster declarations (1974-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Fire.
- 16
- FEMA declarations
- 8
- Major disasters
- 47
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Fire
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Sanders County. Its 16 FEMA declarations are 46% above the Montana county mean and exceed the count for 27% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it safer than 47%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Safer than 47%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 16
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 9
- 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 30089 · Sanders County 16 declarations · rank 2326/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-MID 16
- MAJOR-MID 50%
- RANK-LOWER #2,326
- PHOTO-FINISH Greene
- NRI-LOW 47
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Fire
- VS-ST-ABOVE +46%
Nearest declaration peer: Greene, GA (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Montana state profile
Sanders County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Sanders County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Frontier · near 16
Frontier · near
16 declarations
- Greene · near 16
Greene · near
16 declarations
- Sanders · this county 16
Sanders · this county
16 declarations
- Terrell · near 16
Terrell · near
16 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Sanders County carries 16 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2326 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Sanders County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Sanders County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Sanders County
16 27th percentile higher than 27% 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
Sanders County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Sanders County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $5.8M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Landslide 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 Sanders County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
FEMA's data shows an elevated National Risk Index composite of 47.4/100 for this county (Relatively Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Very Low (roughly $9.0M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability (Very High) and community resilience (Very Low) both factor into how that raw exposure plays out on the ground. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Landslide carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 2.2 times per year here.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 9 claims and $223.0K 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. Sanders County's 16 federal records stand 46% above the Montana county mean of 11.0. 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.
58 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Sanders County, MT · 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
12/30
16 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.8x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
18/25
16 declarations (1.5x state county average of 11)
Major Disaster Share High
13/25
8 of 16 declarations are major disasters (50%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Sanders County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Sanders 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
50%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
47
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Sanders 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 Moderate | an average of 2.2 times per year |
| Wildfire | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 591 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively High | an average of 44 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 5 years |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 49 years |
| Avalanche | Relatively Low | roughly once every 30 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2.5 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 2.1 modeled event-days per year |
| Drought | Very Low | 31 modeled event-days per year |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 18 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Very Low | roughly once every 5 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 25 years |
| Hail | Very Low | roughly once every 3 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Fire 6
Flood 4
Biological 2
Severe Storm 2
Straight-Line Winds 1
Hurricane 1
What Fire declarations mean here
Fire is the most frequent declaration type on Sanders 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 - 8 50.0%
of all 16 declarations
Fire Management - 5 31.3%
of all 16 declarations
Emergency - 3 18.8%
of all 16 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 2 | |
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2017 | 2 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 2 | |
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 1 | |
| 1986 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 16 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 16 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4902 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR | Straight-Line Winds | 2026-04-07 |
| 3630 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | EM | Flood | 2025-12-19 |
| 5480 | RIVER ROAD EAST FIRE | FM | Fire | 2023-08-19 |
| 4508 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-31 |
| 3476 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 5211 | MOOSE PEAK FIRE | FM | Fire | 2017-09-10 |
| 5210 | HIGHWAY 200 FIRE COMPLEX | FM | Fire | 2017-09-10 |
| 4172 | ICE JAMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2014-04-17 |
| 3253 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 2489 | MT-CHERRY CREEK FIRE -08/06/03 | FM | Fire | 2003-08-12 |
| 1340 | WILDFIRES | DR | Fire | 2000-08-30 |
| 2320 | MT - NORTHWESTERN ZONE 1 FIRE COMPLEX | FM | Fire | 2000-08-14 |
| 1183 | SEVERE STORMS,ICE JAMS, SNOW MELT, FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-07-25 |
| 1105 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND ICE JAMS | DR | Severe Storm | 1996-02-23 |
| 761 | HEAVY RAINS, LANDSLIDES & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1986-03-15 |
| 417 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING & LANDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 1974-01-29 |
Storm Events in Montana
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Sanders County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Wind | 3,735 | 1 | 2 | $5.3M |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 2,396 | 5 | 24 | $15.1M |
| Hail | 2,015 | 0 | 0 | $4.1M |
| Winter Storm | 1,502 | 13 | 18 | $11.2M |
| Heavy Snow | 796 | 5 | 3 | $143.0K |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
9
Total Paid
$223.0K
Avg Per Claim
$24.8K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 47.4/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$9.0M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Landslide Relatively Moderate
Wildfire Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively High
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Earthquake Relatively Low
Avalanche Relatively Low
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Drought Very Low
Lightning Very Low
Strong Wind Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Hail 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: 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 Sanders County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Landslide carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Moderate), 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
Sanders County's closest FEMA peer: Camp County, TX
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Sanders County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Sanders County shows 16 FEMA declarations, led by Fire.
Similar Major-disaster share
Sanders County: 8 of 16 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Sanders County: NRI composite 47.4 (Relatively 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 Sanders County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Sanders 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: 47.4 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 16. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 16 FEMA declarations, Sanders 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 Sanders County?
The most common disaster type in Sanders County is Fire, with 6 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (4), Biological (2), Severe Storm (2).
How does Sanders County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Montana average?
FEMA lists 16 declaration records for Sanders County. That is 46% above the Montana county mean of 11.0. Its count is also 23% 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 Sanders County received?
Sanders County has received 8 major disaster declarations, representing 50% of all 16 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Sanders County filed?
Sanders County has 9 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $223.0K in payments, with an average of $24.8K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Sanders County?
No. In Sanders County, Landslide has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $5.8M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Sanders County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Sanders County was 2000, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1974 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Sanders County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Sanders County, Montana has an overall risk score of 47.4 out of 100 (Relatively Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Very High; on community resilience, Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $9.0M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Sanders County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Sanders County as of the latest release is Landslide (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Wildfire (Relatively Moderate) and Winter Weather (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts landslide here at an average of 2.2 times per year. FEMA derives these ratings from historical event frequency, the assets exposed, and the community's vulnerability profile.
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 Sanders County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Montana profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events