Arborlook
Risk & Response
by Arborlook Insights

Whitley County, IN

Community risk profile | NRI Score: 43.2 Relatively Moderate

34,618
Population
12
Departments
13
Stations
8
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
0.17
expected fatality-equivalents per year, natural hazards only
73rd highest of 92
Life Safety per 100k
0.50
natural hazard fatality-equivalents per 100,000 residents
82nd highest of 92
Natural Hazard Property Loss
$6.7M
expected building loss per year, natural hazards only
69th highest of 92
Property Loss per Resident
$193
natural hazard building loss per resident per year
80th highest of 92

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 Whitley County, the largest single contributor is Tornado, 31% of the life-safety total.

Whitley County carries an expected under 1 natural hazard fatality-equivalents and $6.7M in building loss per year. Rank chips compare the 92 Indiana counties. Nationally, Whitley County ranks 2112th of 3,222 U.S. counties for life-safety loss, 2529th for life safety per 100k residents, 1953rd for property loss, and 2822nd 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 Whitley 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 Whitley County See what a department sees

What Drives the Loss

69%
25%
Property (buildings): $6.7M (69.4%)
Life safety: $2.4M (24.9%)
Agriculture: $554K (5.8%)

Total expected annual loss: $9,627,760 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.

Agriculture is 6% of expected annual loss in Whitley County, so total loss overstates property loss here. The property figure above counts building loss only.

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
$742K
Strong Wind
$595K
Heat Wave
$494K
Cold Wave
$416K
Lightning
$68K
Winter Weather
$27K

By property loss ($/yr)

Inland Flooding
$4.6M
Tornado
$1.4M
Hail
$256K
Strong Wind
$224K
Earthquake
$222K
Ice Storm
$10K

Census Tract Risk Map

Shaded by quintile across the census tracts in Whitley 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

33%
67%
Combination: 33% (4)
Volunteer: 67% (8)
Residents per Station
2,663
census population per registered station
Stations per 100k
37.6
registered stations per 100,000 residents

Department composition covers the 12 departments registered in NERIS Public for Whitley County, IN. 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 Whitley 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 12 departments
Department Est. Population Life-Safety Loss NRI Rating Stations
Washington Township Fire Department 88,049 $10.0M Relatively High 1
Columbia Township Fire Department 20,197 $1.8M Relatively High 1
Thorncreek Township Fire Department 15,548 $1.0M Relatively Low 1
Jefferson Township Fire Department 8,046 $976.2K Relatively Moderate 1
Jefferson Township Fire Department 8,046 $976.2K Relatively Moderate 1
Columbia City Fire Department 13,331 $877.6K Relatively Moderate 1
Union Township Volunteer Fire Department 12,200 $771.4K Relatively Low 1
Richland Township Volunteer Fire Department 10,585 $758.4K Relatively Moderate 2
Smith Township Fire Department 7,293 $499.7K Relatively Low 1
Jefferson Center-Whitley County Volunteer Fire Department 5,639 $398.7K Relatively Low 1
Cleveland Township Fire Department 5,115 $386.8K Relatively High 1
Cleveland Township Fire Department 5,115 $386.8K Relatively High 1
No departments match your search.

Risk Snapshot

9.9%
Poverty Rate
19.2%
Age 65+
14.2%
Disability Rate
6.0%
Uninsured
50.7%
Pre-1980 Housing
5.6%
Mobile Homes
6.7%
Vacancy Rate
2.4%
Wood Heat
$79,602
Median HH Income

FEMA Disaster Declarations

3
Last 10 Years
12
Last 25 Years
Severe Storm
Most Frequent

Response-level intelligence for your region

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