FEMA Records
6
Low volume
Wisconsin · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Vilas County, WI
6 FEMA disaster declarations (1976-2020), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Biological.
- 6
- FEMA declarations
- 2
- Major disasters
- 63
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Biological
- Top hazard
The verdict
Start with the local benchmark for Vilas County: 6 FEMA declaration records are 51% below the Wisconsin county mean, even though the count is higher than 3% 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 in the riskiest 37%.
- Riskiest 37%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 6
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 2
- biological declarations, the most common hazard here
FEMA's National Risk Index and its declaration registry are separate measures. This county's registry includes Major Disaster (DR) and Emergency (EM) records; an EM authorizes a narrower set of federal assistance than a DR.
How does Vilas County compare?
Vilas County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
6 3rd percentile higher than 3% 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
Vilas County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the Wisconsin county average
What does Vilas County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county carries a high composite score on FEMA's National Risk Index, 63.3/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $18.7M in annualized losses), and a Relatively High social-vulnerability profile combined with Relatively High community resilience shapes how much of that raw exposure becomes realized harm. 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 9.2 times per year here, based on 174 historical events on record.
Declaration frequency
The state comparison is the clearest context for Vilas County's moderate federal record. Its 6 declarations sit 51% below the Wisconsin county mean, with 2 Major Disaster entries among them. 2 records concern Biological, the file's most frequent incident type. Spread across 44 years, the registry rate is 0.1 per year. FEMA reports authorized programs separately from the DR, EM, and FM codes.
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 Wisconsin county averages 12.3 federal declaration records, while Vilas County has 6. The gap is 51% 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.
28 /100
Historical Activity Index
Moderate historical activity
Vilas County, WI · 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
4/30
6 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.3x national county average)
County Disaster Density Low
6/25
6 declarations (0.5x state county average of 12)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
8/25
2 of 6 declarations are major disasters (33%)
Hazard Diversity High
10/20
4 different disaster types declared in Vilas County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
Moderate
vs. Wisconsin Avg
-51%
State avg: 12.3
vs. National Avg
-71%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.1
Over 44 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Vilas 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
33%
Mixed major share
NRI risk score
63
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Vilas 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 9.2 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.2 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 22 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 27 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 1.3 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 5 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 6 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 71,002 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 1.1 modeled event-days per year |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 0.3 modeled event-days per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 4,673 years |
| Hurricane | No Rating | roughly once every 266 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Biological 2
Flood 2
Hurricane 1
Drought 1
What Biological declarations mean here
Biological is the most frequent declaration type on Vilas County's record, 33% 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 Vilas 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).
Emergency - 4 66.7%
of all 6 declarations
Major Disaster - 2 33.3%
of all 6 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1984 | 1 | |
| 1976 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 6 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 6 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4520 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-04 |
| 3454 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 3249 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 1284 | WI-FLOOD-07/20/99 | DR | Flood | 1999-08-16 |
| 3091 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | EM | Flood | 1984-07-10 |
| 3014 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1976-06-17 |
Storm Events in Wisconsin
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Vilas County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 3,504 | 5 | 23 | $45.0M |
| Hail | 2,620 | 0 | 0 | $57.8M |
| Winter Weather | 1,939 | 43 | 152 | $2.1M |
| Winter Storm | 1,338 | 15 | 86 | $2.3M |
| Flood | 740 | 12 | 4 | $115.6M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 63.3/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$18.7M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively High
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Cold Wave Relatively High
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Hail Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Wildfire Very Low
Drought Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Earthquake Very Low
Hurricane 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: 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 Vilas 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 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
Vilas County's closest FEMA peer: Wood County, TX
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Vilas County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Similar modeled NRI score
Vilas County: NRI composite 63.3 (Relatively Low).
Similar Major-disaster share
Vilas County: 2 of 6 of its declarations are Major.
Closest declaration profiles
Vilas County shows 6 FEMA declarations, led by Biological.
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 Vilas County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
FEMA's National Risk Index flags Cold Wave as the top modeled exposure here (Relatively High); 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).
Related
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Vilas County?
The most common disaster type in Vilas County is Biological, with 2 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (2), Hurricane (1), Drought (1).
How does Vilas County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Wisconsin average?
The typical Wisconsin county has 12.3 FEMA declaration records; Vilas County has 6, or 51% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 71% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Vilas County received?
Vilas County has received 2 major disaster declarations, representing 33% of all 6 disaster declarations.
What was the worst year for disasters in Vilas County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Vilas County was 2020, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1976 to 2020.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Vilas County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Vilas County, Wisconsin has an overall risk score of 63.3 out of 100 (Relatively Low). Social vulnerability here rates Relatively High, while community resilience comes in at Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $18.7M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Vilas County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Vilas County is Cold Wave (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Strong Wind (Relatively Moderate) and Winter Weather (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts cold wave here at an average of 9.2 times per year, drawn from 174 historical events on record. 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.
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 Vilas County
Against a Wisconsin county mean of 12 declarations, Vilas County, WI records 6, or 51% fewer. PlainHazard classifies that historical total as moderate activity.
- Emergency is the largest group (4 of 6) in a declaration history that remains below its state benchmark; frequency here is not a forecast. Wisconsin overview
- Nationally the county exceeds 3% of recorded county totals, but its own Wisconsin 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.