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.
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 San Diego County, the largest single contributor is Earthquake, 68% of the life-safety total.
San Diego County carries an expected 11 natural hazard fatality-equivalents and $1.4B in building loss per year. Rank chips compare the 58 California counties. Nationally, San Diego County ranks 34th of 3,222 U.S. counties for life-safety loss, 2939th for life safety per 100k residents, 7th for property loss, and 1123rd 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 San Diego 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 San Diego County See what a department seesWhat Drives the Loss
Total expected annual loss: $1,539,182,122 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)
By property loss ($/yr)
Census Tract Risk Map
Shaded by quintile across the census tracts in San Diego 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
Department composition covers the 43 departments registered in NERIS Public for San Diego County, CA. 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 San Diego 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.
| Department ▲ | Est. Population ▲ | Life-Safety Loss ▼ | NRI Rating ▲ | Stations ▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riverside County Fire Department | 2.0M | $172.5M | Very High | 42 |
| City Of San Diego Fire-Rescue Department | 1.4M | $69.4M | Relatively Moderate | 56 |
| Mojave Air And Space Port Fire Department | 548,139 | $53.6M | Relatively High | 0 |
| San Diego County Fire Authority | 202,413 | $30.4M | Very High | 21 |
| California Department Of Forestry And Fire Protection | 177,822 | $28.8M | Very High | 31 |
| North County Fire Protection District Of Monterey County | 161,117 | $15.3M | Very High | 6 |
| Borrego Springs Fire Protection District | 3,445 | $7.3M | Very High | 1 |
| Chula Vista Fire Department | 264,585 | $7.0M | Relatively Moderate | 15 |
| Campo Reservation Fire Protection District | 7,809 | $6.4M | Very High | 1 |
| San Marcos Fire Department | 234,571 | $5.5M | Relatively Moderate | 4 |
| North County Fire Protection District | 102,051 | $4.8M | Very High | 6 |
| Oceanside Fire Department | 164,339 | $4.4M | Relatively Moderate | 9 |
| Escondido Fire Department | 150,214 | $4.4M | Relatively High | 7 |
| Valley Center Fire Protection District | 42,819 | $4.3M | Very High | 3 |
| Ramona Fire Department | 47,746 | $3.8M | Very High | 3 |
| Lakeside Fire Protection District | 78,830 | $3.2M | Relatively High | 5 |
| San Miguel Consolidated Fire Protection District | 130,749 | $3.1M | Relatively Moderate | 8 |
| Deer Springs Fire Protection District | 44,726 | $3.0M | Very High | 3 |
| National City Fire Department | 55,576 | $2.6M | Relatively Moderate | 3 |
| Heartland Fire And Rescue | 88,627 | $2.5M | Relatively High | 8 |
| El Cajon Fire Department | 88,626 | $2.5M | Relatively High | 4 |
| Vista Fire Department | 116,885 | $2.4M | Relatively Moderate | 6 |
| Poway Fire Department | 53,528 | $2.3M | Relatively High | 3 |
| Carlsbad Fire Department | 112,735 | $2.2M | Relatively Moderate | 7 |
| Alpine Fire Protection District | 22,543 | $1.9M | Very High | 1 |
| Santee Fire Department | 61,580 | $1.9M | Relatively High | 6 |
| San Pasqual Reservation Fire Department | 15,224 | $1.6M | Very High | 1 |
| Encinitas Fire Department | 68,237 | $1.5M | Relatively Moderate | 6 |
| La Mesa Fire Department | 55,101 | $1.4M | Relatively Low | 3 |
| Coronado Fire Department | 17,388 | $1.2M | Relatively Moderate | 2 |
| Pala Fire Department | 6,942 | $1.1M | Very High | 1 |
| Pauma Fire Department | 6,942 | $1.1M | Very High | 2 |
| Imperial Beach Fire Department | 23,493 | $1.0M | Relatively Moderate | 2 |
| Rancho Santa Fe Fire Protection District | 42,292 | $845.1K | Relatively High | 7 |
| Rincon Fire Department | 4,999 | $733.6K | Very High | 1 |
| Barona Fire Department | 4,827 | $720.1K | Very High | 1 |
| Viejas Fire Department | 3,238 | $714.1K | Very High | 3 |
| Pechanga Fire Department | 7,796 | $640.6K | Very High | 2 |
| Lemon Grove Fire Department | 24,784 | $529.2K | Relatively Low | 0 |
| Sycuan Fire Department | 6,889 | $404.7K | Very High | 1 |
| Bonita Sunnyside Fire Protection District | 13,522 | $274.4K | Relatively High | 1 |
| Solana Beach Fire Department | 8,602 | $254.6K | Relatively Moderate | 1 |
| Del Mar Fire Department | 3,054 | $219.8K | Relatively High | 1 |
Risk Snapshot
FEMA Disaster Declarations
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