FEMA Records
29
High volume
Washington · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Spokane County, WA
29 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Fire.
- 29
- FEMA declarations
- 14
- Major disasters
- 90
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Fire
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Spokane County. Its 29 FEMA declarations are 17% above the Washington county mean and exceed the count for 85% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 10%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 10%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Moderate
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 29
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 62
- 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 53063 · Spokane County 29 declarations · rank 474/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-LIGHT · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-MID · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-HEAVY 29
- MAJOR-LIGHT 48%
- RANK-MID #474
- PHOTO-FINISH Bath
- NRI-MID 90
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Fire
- VS-ST-ABOVE +17%
Nearest declaration peer: Bath, KY (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Washington state profile
Spokane County among high-volume declaration counties
FEMA declaration records among Spokane County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Bath · near 29
Bath · near
29 declarations
- Lenoir · near 29
Lenoir · near
29 declarations
- Spokane · this county 29
Spokane · this county
29 declarations
- Walthall · near 29
Walthall · near
29 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Spokane County carries 29 FEMA declaration records, ranked 474 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Where Spokane County ranks in the national declaration registry
Spokane County vs. high-volume counties in this registry
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Spokane County
29 Top 15% higher than 85% 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
Spokane County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Spokane County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $52.9M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Cold Wave 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 Spokane County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 62 paid claims, totaling $1.8M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $29.0K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Spokane County's 29 federal records stand 17% above the Washington county mean of 24.9. 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.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 90.0/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Moderate (roughly $98.8M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively Low and community resilience Relatively High, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Cold Wave stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 1.1 times per year here, based on 21 historical events on record.
68 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Spokane County, WA · 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
21/30
29 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.4x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
15/25
29 declarations (1.2x state county average of 25)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
12/25
14 of 29 declarations are major disasters (48%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
8 different disaster types declared in Spokane County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Spokane 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
48%
Mixed major share
NRI risk score
90
Relatively Moderate
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Spokane 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Cold Wave | Relatively High | an average of 1.1 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Very High | roughly once every 3 years |
| Wildfire | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 274 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Moderate | 3.9 modeled event-days per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.2 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively High | roughly once every 4 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively High | an average of 19 times per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 631 years |
| Avalanche | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 15 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 16 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 13 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 13 modeled event-days per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Fire 13
Flood 6
Severe Storm 4
Biological 2
Coastal Storm 1
Severe Ice Storm 1
Volcanic Eruption 1
Drought 1
What Fire declarations mean here
Fire is the most frequent declaration type on Spokane County's record, 45% 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 - 14 48.3%
of all 29 declarations
Fire Management - 10 34.5%
of all 29 declarations
Emergency - 5 17.2%
of all 29 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2024 | 1 | |
| 2023 | 2 | |
| 2021 | 2 | |
| 2020 | 3 | |
| 2018 | 1 | |
| 2017 | 1 | |
| 2016 | 3 | |
| 2015 | 1 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 3 | |
| 1996 | 1 | |
Show 6 earlier declaration years
| 1992 | 1 | |
| 1986 | 1 | |
| 1982 | 1 | |
| 1980 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 29 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 29 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5638 | UPRIVER FIRE | FM | Fire | 2026-06-16 |
| 4759 | WILDFIRES | DR | Fire | 2024-02-15 |
| 5481 | OREGON FIRE | FM | Fire | 2023-08-19 |
| 5479 | GRAY FIRE | FM | Fire | 2023-08-18 |
| 5395 | ANDRUS FIRE | FM | Fire | 2021-07-06 |
| 4593 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2021-04-08 |
| 5355 | BABB FIRE | FM | Fire | 2020-09-08 |
| 4481 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-22 |
| 3427 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 5254 | UPRIVER BEACON FIRE | FM | Fire | 2018-07-17 |
| 4309 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2017-04-21 |
| 5149 | YALE FIRE | FM | Fire | 2016-08-22 |
| 5148 | WELLESLEY FIRE | FM | Fire | 2016-08-22 |
| 4249 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2016-01-15 |
| 3372 | WILDFIRES | EM | Fire | 2015-08-21 |
| 5063 | WATERMELON HILL FIRE | FM | Fire | 2014-07-19 |
| 1825 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND RECORD AND NEAR RECORD SNOW | DR | Severe Storm | 2009-03-02 |
| 2783 | SPOKANE VALLEY FIRE | FM | Fire | 2008-07-11 |
| 3227 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Coastal Storm | 2005-09-07 |
| 1172 | HEAVY RAINS, SNOW MELT, FLOODING, LAND & MUD SLIDES | DR | Flood | 1997-04-02 |
Show 9 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1159 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, LAND & MUDS SLIDES,FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-01-17 |
| 1152 | SEVERE ICE STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 1997-01-07 |
| 1100 | HIGH WINDS, SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1996-02-09 |
| 922 | FIRES | DR | Fire | 1991-11-13 |
| 769 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1986-07-26 |
| 3086 | THREAT OF FLOODING AT SPIRIT LAKE | EM | Flood | 1982-08-19 |
| 623 | VOLCANIC ERUPTION, MT. ST. HELENS | DR | Volcanic Eruption | 1980-05-21 |
| 3037 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-03-31 |
| 185 | HEAVY RAINS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1964-12-29 |
Storm Events in Washington
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Spokane County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heavy Snow | 1,700 | 5 | 7 | $2.3M |
| High Wind | 614 | 15 | 6 | $1.1B |
| Wildfire | 299 | 4 | 4 | $1.8B |
| Winter Weather | 259 | 9 | 62 | $1.1M |
| Flood | 231 | 4 | 0 | $391.2M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
62
Total Paid
$1.8M
Avg Per Claim
$29.0K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 90.0/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Moderate
$98.8M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Cold Wave Relatively High
Ice Storm Very High
Wildfire Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Moderate
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively High
Winter Weather Relatively High
Earthquake Relatively Low
Avalanche Relatively Moderate
Hail Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Landslide Very Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Drought 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: Cold Wave
Cold Wave measures exposure to extreme cold rather than to snow. Its harm is concentrated in health effects, burst infrastructure and energy demand spikes, and it falls hardest where the building stock and the grid were not built with sustained cold in mind.
Worth noting for Spokane County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Cold Wave 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
Spokane County's closest FEMA peer: Tensas Parish, LA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Spokane County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Spokane County shows 29 FEMA declarations, led by Fire.
Similar Major-disaster share
Spokane County: 14 of 29 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Spokane County: NRI composite 90.0 (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 Spokane County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Spokane 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: 90.0 (Relatively Moderate).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 29. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Spokane County's NFIP claims file (62 claims) and FEMA declaration history measure different federal records - this guide separates them from modeled NRI risk.
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 Spokane County?
The most common disaster type in Spokane County is Fire, with 13 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (6), Severe Storm (4), Biological (2).
How does Spokane County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Washington average?
FEMA lists 29 declaration records for Spokane County. That is 17% above the Washington county mean of 24.9. Its count is also 40% above 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 Spokane County received?
Spokane County has received 14 major disaster declarations, representing 48% of all 29 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Spokane County filed?
Spokane County has 62 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $1.8M in payments, with an average of $29.0K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Spokane County?
No. In Spokane County, Cold Wave has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $52.9M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Spokane County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Spokane County was 1997, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Spokane County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Spokane County, Washington has an overall risk score of 90.0 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). Social vulnerability here rates Relatively Low, while community resilience comes in at Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Moderate, representing $98.8M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Spokane County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Spokane County is Cold Wave (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Ice Storm (Very High) and Wildfire (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts cold wave here at an average of 1.1 times per year, drawn from 21 historical events on record. 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 Spokane County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Washington profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events