Arborlook
Risk & Response
by Arborlook Insights

Columbia County, AR

Community risk profile | NRI Score: 64.1 Relatively High

22,349
Population
11
Departments
14
Stations
7
Census Tracts

Natural Hazard Loss Profile

Expected annual loss across the 18 natural hazards in FEMA's National Risk Index. Life safety is expressed in fatality-equivalents, combining expected deaths and injuries. Property loss counts building damage only, separate from agriculture.

Natural Hazard Life Safety
0.23
expected fatality-equivalents per year, natural hazards only
46th highest of 75
Life Safety per 100k
1.04
natural hazard fatality-equivalents per 100,000 residents
64th highest of 75
Natural Hazard Property Loss
$5.2M
expected building loss per year, natural hazards only
57th highest of 75
Property Loss per Resident
$231
natural hazard building loss per resident per year
69th highest of 75

These figures cover natural hazards only. Structure fire, EMS, and motor vehicle incidents are not included in the National Risk Index and are not counted here, so this is not an all-cause life safety measure. For Columbia County, the largest single contributor is Tornado, 30% of the life-safety total.

Columbia County carries an expected under 1 natural hazard fatality-equivalents and $5.2M in building loss per year. Rank chips compare the 75 Arkansas counties. Nationally, Columbia County ranks 1777th of 3,222 U.S. counties for life-safety loss, 1664th for life safety per 100k residents, 2211th for property loss, and 2488th for property loss per resident. Computed from census tract data covering every resident, independent of fire department boundaries.

Add fire mortality, cause, and loss

Natural hazard exposure is one half of the picture. The other half is what your departments run on: fire deaths and injuries, cause of ignition, dollar loss per incident. That comes from NERIS incident reporting, and it grows as departments serving Columbia County enroll. Our Regional tier brings it together across your jurisdiction, with participating departments, alongside response time analytics, cross-department benchmarking, and coverage gap analysis.

Talk to us about Columbia County See what a department sees

What Drives the Loss

60%
37%
Property (buildings): $5.2M (59.8%)
Life safety: $3.2M (36.9%)
Agriculture: $278K (3.2%)

Total expected annual loss: $8,627,233 per year. Life safety is shown here in dollars, at FEMA's $13.7M value of statistical life, so the three shares sum to the total.

Hazards Ranked Two Ways

The hazard that threatens people is often not the hazard that destroys buildings. Both columns cover the same 18 hazards over the same year.

By life-safety loss ($/yr)

Tornado
$964K
Heat Wave
$891K
Strong Wind
$587K
Earthquake
$210K
Lightning
$192K
Hail
$147K

By property loss ($/yr)

Inland Flooding
$1.8M
Ice Storm
$1.8M
Hail
$530K
Earthquake
$358K
Tornado
$297K
Strong Wind
$255K

Census Tract Risk Map

Shaded by quintile across the census tracts in Columbia County. Gray tracts have no modeled loss or no resident population. Per-resident figures on this map use the National Risk Index 2020 tract population.

Fire Service Profile

18%
82%
Combination: 18% (2)
Volunteer: 82% (9)
Residents per Station
1,596
census population per registered station
Stations per 100k
62.6
registered stations per 100,000 residents

Department composition covers the 11 departments registered in NERIS Public for Columbia County, AR. Departments that have not registered are not counted. Station coverage divides census population by registered stations; department service areas overlap, so their populations are not summed.

Department Rankings

Fire and EMS departments serving Columbia County. Click column headers to sort.

NRI Rating is from FEMA's National Risk Index, which measures community risk across 18 natural hazards using expected annual losses, social vulnerability, and community resilience. Life-Safety Loss uses FEMA's Value of Statistical Life ($13.7M per expected fatality) to estimate annual risk to human life.

Department boundaries and station counts are self-reported through NERIS Public and may not reflect current service areas. Population and Life-Safety Loss reflect each department's full jurisdiction. County-level risk metrics are computed from census tract data and are not affected by boundary accuracy. See full methodology.

Showing 11 departments
Department Est. Population Life-Safety Loss NRI Rating Stations
Mount Vernon Volunteer Fire/Rescue 19,109 $3.6M Relatively High 2
Magnolia Fire Department 21,097 $3.0M Relatively High 1
4-Communities Fire Department 8,230 $1.1M Relatively High 2
Waldo Fire Department 7,056 $1.0M Relatively High 1
Emerson Volunteer Fire Department 5,482 $715.8K Relatively High 1
Walkerville Volunteer Fire Department 5,482 $715.8K Relatively High 1
Macedonia-Dorcheat Volunteer Fire Department 4,308 $676.1K Relatively Moderate 2
Mcneil Fire Department 3,778 $545.8K Relatively High 1
Calhoun Community Volunteer Fire Department 4,452 $528.1K Relatively High 1
Village Volunteer Fire Department 4,452 $528.1K Relatively High 1
Rudds Crossing Volunteer Fire Department 3,334 $496.2K Relatively Moderate 1
No departments match your search.

Risk Snapshot

21.1%
Poverty Rate
17.5%
Age 65+
20.2%
Disability Rate
7.5%
Uninsured
49.1%
Pre-1980 Housing
16.8%
Mobile Homes
23.8%
Vacancy Rate
1.0%
Wood Heat
$54,459
Median HH Income

FEMA Disaster Declarations

6
Last 10 Years
12
Last 25 Years
Severe Storm
Most Frequent

Response-level intelligence for your region

Our Regional tier gives county fire authorities and state fire marshals rollup dashboards across all departments in your jurisdiction: response time analytics, cross-department benchmarking, and coverage gap analysis.

Explore the Regional Tier See the Response Demo