Arborlook
Risk & Response
by Arborlook Insights

Penobscot County, ME

Community risk profile | NRI Score: 33.2 Relatively Low

154,710
Population
40
Departments
47
Stations
46
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
0.51
expected fatality-equivalents per year, natural hazards only
5th highest of 16
Life Safety per 100k
0.33
natural hazard fatality-equivalents per 100,000 residents
10th highest of 16
Natural Hazard Property Loss
$33.6M
expected building loss per year, natural hazards only
3rd highest of 16
Property Loss per Resident
$217
natural hazard building loss per resident per year
14th highest of 16

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 Penobscot County, the largest single contributor is Winter Weather, 29% of the life-safety total.

Penobscot County carries an expected under 1 natural hazard fatality-equivalents and $33.6M in building loss per year. Rank chips compare the 16 Maine counties. Nationally, Penobscot County ranks 1058th of 3,222 U.S. counties for life-safety loss, 2927th for life safety per 100k residents, 537th for property loss, and 2624th 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 Penobscot 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 Penobscot County See what a department sees

What Drives the Loss

82%
17%
Property (buildings): $33.6M (81.7%)
Life safety: $7.0M (16.9%)
Agriculture: $552K (1.3%)

Total expected annual loss: $41,151,046 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)

Winter Weather
$2.0M
Cold Wave
$1.7M
Lightning
$1.3M
Strong Wind
$696K
Tornado
$455K
Earthquake
$319K

By property loss ($/yr)

Inland Flooding
$24.0M
Hurricane
$4.7M
Ice Storm
$2.3M
Earthquake
$1.3M
Winter Weather
$843K
Hail
$247K

Census Tract Risk Map

Shaded by quintile across the census tracts in Penobscot 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

15%
30%
55%
Career: 15% (6)
Combination: 30% (12)
Volunteer: 55% (22)
Residents per Station
3,292
census population per registered station
Stations per 100k
30.4
registered stations per 100,000 residents

Department composition covers the 40 departments registered in NERIS Public for Penobscot County, ME. 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 Penobscot 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 40 departments
Department Est. Population Life-Safety Loss NRI Rating Stations
Dedham-Lucerne Fire Department 27,947 $2.1M Relatively Low 2
Carmel Fire & Rescue 30,128 $1.5M Relatively Low 1
Orrington Fire & Rescue 16,171 $1.5M Relatively Moderate 0
Bangor Fire Department 31,300 $1.5M Relatively Moderate 3
Detroit Fire And Rescue 8,981 $1.4M Relatively Moderate 2
Holden Fire / Rescue 17,848 $1.3M Relatively Moderate 1
Greenbush Fire Department 17,901 $1.2M Relatively Low 2
Hampden Fire Department 19,948 $1.0M Relatively Low 1
Kingman Volunteer Fire Department 5,108 $657.3K Relatively Moderate 0
Dexter Fire Department 4,715 $655.9K Relatively Moderate 1
Corinth Fire Department 14,652 $651.9K Relatively Low 1
Tremont Volunteer Fire Department 14,175 $626.6K Relatively Low 2
Mariaville Volunteer Fire Department 7,419 $519.3K Relatively Moderate 1
Millinocket Fire & Rescue 3,847 $479.3K Relatively Moderate 1
Eddington Fire Department 11,426 $478.5K Relatively Moderate 1
Orono Fire Department 11,091 $476.2K Relatively Low 1
Brewer Fire Department 9,163 $406.1K Relatively Low 1
Old Town Fire Department 7,105 $327.5K Relatively Low 1
Newport Fire Department 7,251 $326.3K Relatively Low 1
Hermon Fire Department 6,727 $281.1K Relatively Low 1
Mattawamkeag Fire - Rescue 5,724 $274.5K Relatively Low 1
Springfield Fire Department 4,990 $261.7K Relatively Moderate 1
Glenburn Fire Department 6,070 $257.8K Relatively Moderate 2
Kenduskeag Fire - Rescue 6,070 $257.8K Relatively Moderate 1
Bradley Volunteer Fire Department 4,740 $208.6K Relatively Moderate 1
Milford Fire Department 4,740 $208.6K Relatively Moderate 1
Charleston Volunteer Fire Department 4,107 $194.5K Relatively Low 1
Lincoln Fire Department 2,262 $117.9K Very Low 1
Bradford Volunteer Fire Department 2,559 $112.6K Very Low 1
Hudson Volunteer Fire Department 2,559 $112.6K Very Low 1
Dixmont Volunteer Fire Department 2,526 $111.3K Very Low 4
Plymouth Fire & Rescue 2,526 $111.3K Very Low 1
Mount Chase Fire Department 2,417 $110.4K Relatively Moderate 0
Levant Fire Department 2,403 $105.7K Very Low 1
Lee Volunteer Fire Department 2,225 $105.6K Relatively Low 1
Medway Fire Department 1,792 $101.2K Relatively Low 1
Lagrange Volunteer Fire Department 1,986 $83.6K Very Low 1
Central Maine Highlands Fire & EMS District No. 1 1,925 $76.7K Very Low 1
Newburgh Volunteer Fire Department 1,475 $68.3K Very Low 1
Penobscot Nation Fire Department 470 $16.8K Very Low 1
No departments match your search.

Risk Snapshot

14.1%
Poverty Rate
20.1%
Age 65+
18.2%
Disability Rate
6.3%
Uninsured
53.8%
Pre-1980 Housing
11.1%
Mobile Homes
13.8%
Vacancy Rate
8.6%
Wood Heat
$70,143
Median HH Income

FEMA Disaster Declarations

54
Last 10 Years
63
Last 25 Years
Biological
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.

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