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, not agriculture.
These figures cover natural hazards only. Structure fire, EMS, and motor vehicle incidents are not in the National Risk Index, so this is not an all-cause life safety measure. For Polk County, the largest single contributor is Tornado, 30% of the life-safety total.
Polk County carries an expected 3 natural hazard fatality-equivalents and $87.8M in building loss per year. Rank chips compare the 99 Iowa counties. Nationally, Polk County ranks 156th of 3,222 U.S. counties for life-safety loss, 2305th for life safety per 100k residents, 251st for property loss, and 2969th 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 only part of the risk. Fire deaths and injuries, cause of ignition, and dollar loss per incident come from NERIS incident reporting, which grows as departments serving Polk County enroll. Our Regional tier adds that data for the departments your jurisdiction sponsors, next to public risk and NERIS adoption for every department in Polk County.
Talk to us about Polk County See what a department seesLoss Breakdown
Total expected annual loss: $137,588,604 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 Polk 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 24 departments registered in NERIS Public for Polk County, IA. 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 Polk 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 ▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Des Moines Fire Department | 214,054 | $19.6M | Relatively Low | 15 |
| Ankeny Fire Department | 81,525 | $6.6M | Relatively Moderate | 4 |
| West Des Moines Fire Department | 74,282 | $6.5M | Relatively Moderate | 7 |
| Urbandale Fire Department | 48,347 | $4.3M | Relatively Moderate | 3 |
| Johnston-Grimes Metropolitan Fire District | 44,216 | $3.8M | Relatively Low | 4 |
| Clive Fire Department | 19,271 | $1.9M | Relatively High | 1 |
| Altoona Fire Department | 22,941 | $1.8M | Relatively Moderate | 3 |
| Norwalk Fire Department | 17,430 | $1.5M | Relatively Low | 1 |
| Pleasant Hill Fire Department | 13,321 | $1.1M | Relatively Low | 2 |
| Bondurant Emergency Services | 11,654 | $801.6K | Relatively High | 1 |
| Saylor Township Fire Department | 6,616 | $558.8K | Relatively High | 1 |
| Huxley Fire And Rescue | 8,647 | $546.3K | Relatively Moderate | 1 |
| Polk City Fire Department | 6,571 | $533.1K | Relatively High | 1 |
| Windsor Heights Fire Department | 5,125 | $509.6K | Relatively High | 1 |
| Carlisle Fire Department | 5,082 | $495.6K | Relatively Moderate | 1 |
| Granger Fire Department | 4,467 | $388.9K | Relatively High | 1 |
| Mitchellville Fire Department | 4,071 | $342.6K | Relatively High | 2 |
| Delaware Township Fire Department | 3,967 | $329.3K | Relatively Low | 1 |
| Camp Township Fire Department | 3,443 | $296.0K | Relatively High | 1 |
| Elkhart Fire Department | 1,954 | $167.7K | Very High | 1 |
| Maxwell Fire Department | 451 | $40.1K | Very High | 1 |
| Slater Fire Department | 489 | $39.9K | Relatively High | 1 |
| Madrid Fire Department | 261 | $22.3K | Relatively High | 1 |
| Northern Warren Fire Department | 0 | $0 | Insufficient Data | 1 |
Risk Snapshot
FEMA Disaster Declarations
Every department in your region, on one briefing
Our Regional tier gives state fire marshals and county fire authorities one briefing across every department in the jurisdiction: priority tracts ranked by risk and demand, NERIS adoption by county, and a quarterly report with a page per department. Response times appear for the departments you sponsor. Free 90-day pilot.
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