Arborlook
Risk & Response
by Arborlook Insights

Otter Tail County, MN

Community risk profile | NRI Score: 75.2 Relatively High

60,475
Population
21
Departments
22
Stations
17
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
0.65
expected fatality-equivalents per year, natural hazards only
17th highest of 87
Life Safety per 100k
1.08
natural hazard fatality-equivalents per 100,000 residents
47th highest of 87
Natural Hazard Property Loss
$28.0M
expected building loss per year, natural hazards only
14th highest of 87
Property Loss per Resident
$462
natural hazard building loss per resident per year
28th highest of 87

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 Otter Tail County, the largest single contributor is Cold Wave, 82% of the life-safety total.

Otter Tail County carries an expected under 1 natural hazard fatality-equivalents and $28.0M in building loss per year. Rank chips compare the 87 Minnesota counties. Nationally, Otter Tail County ranks 869th of 3,222 U.S. counties for life-safety loss, 1587th for life safety per 100k residents, 639th for property loss, and 990th 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 Otter Tail 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 Otter Tail County See what a department sees

What Drives the Loss

74%
24%
Property (buildings): $28.0M (74.2%)
Life safety: $9.0M (23.8%)
Agriculture: $763K (2.0%)

Total expected annual loss: $37,677,444 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)

Cold Wave
$7.4M
Tornado
$457K
Winter Weather
$362K
Strong Wind
$264K
Heat Wave
$232K
Lightning
$135K

By property loss ($/yr)

Inland Flooding
$21.2M
Tornado
$4.1M
Strong Wind
$1.2M
Winter Weather
$642K
Wildfire
$331K
Hail
$304K

Census Tract Risk Map

Shaded by quintile across the census tracts in Otter Tail 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

43%
57%
Volunteer: 43% (9)
Unreported: 57% (12)
Residents per Station
2,749
census population per registered station
Stations per 100k
36.4
registered stations per 100,000 residents

Department composition covers the 21 departments registered in NERIS Public for Otter Tail County, MN. 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 Otter Tail 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 21 departments
Department Est. Population Life-Safety Loss NRI Rating Stations
Fergus Falls Fire Department 24,321 $3.6M Relatively High 1
Battle Lake Area Fire Association 20,640 $3.0M Relatively High 2
New York Mills Fire Department 19,840 $2.9M Very High 1
Deer Creek Fire And Rescue 14,768 $2.1M Relatively High 1
Pelican Rapids Volunteer Fire Department 15,818 $2.0M Relatively High 1
Wendell Fire Department 9,235 $1.9M Relatively High 1
Leaf Valley Township Fire Department 11,447 $1.8M Relatively High 1
Dalton Community Fire Department 10,726 $1.6M Relatively High 1
Sebeka Fire And Rescue 16,962 $1.6M Relatively High 1
Bluffton Fire Department 10,388 $1.5M Very High 1
Dent Volunteer Fire Department 9,672 $1.4M Relatively High 1
Perham Fire & Rescue 8,459 $1.2M Very High 1
Vergas Fire And Rescue 7,204 $1.1M Relatively High 1
Ashby Fire Department 5,682 $1.1M Relatively Moderate 1
Parkers Prairie Volunteer Fire Department 7,651 $1.1M Relatively High 1
Ottertail Fire And Rescue 7,117 $1.0M Very High 1
Frazee Fire Department 13,762 $994.1K Relatively Moderate 1
Henning Volunteer Fire Department 6,746 $973.3K Very High 1
Rothsay Fire Department 5,720 $963.8K Relatively High 1
Elizabeth Fire Department 5,921 $857.5K Relatively High 1
Hewitt Volunteer Fire Department 6,947 $779.3K Relatively High 1
No departments match your search.

Risk Snapshot

8.7%
Poverty Rate
25.4%
Age 65+
14.5%
Disability Rate
5.6%
Uninsured
51.4%
Pre-1980 Housing
6.4%
Mobile Homes
31.4%
Vacancy Rate
4.7%
Wood Heat
$73,947
Median HH Income

FEMA Disaster Declarations

2
Last 10 Years
7
Last 25 Years
Flood
Most Frequent

Response-level intelligence for your region

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