Arborlook
Risk & Response
by Arborlook Insights

Chouteau County, MT

Community risk profile | NRI Score: 97.1 Very High

5,906
Population
11
Departments
47
Stations
2
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
0.23
expected fatality-equivalents per year, natural hazards only
27th highest of 56
Life Safety per 100k
3.98
natural hazard fatality-equivalents per 100,000 residents
24th highest of 56
Natural Hazard Property Loss
$5.8M
expected building loss per year, natural hazards only
19th highest of 56
Property Loss per Resident
$978
natural hazard building loss per resident per year
7th highest of 56

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 Chouteau County, the largest single contributor is Cold Wave, 62% of the life-safety total.

Chouteau County carries an expected under 1 natural hazard fatality-equivalents and $5.8M in building loss per year. Rank chips compare the 56 Montana counties. Nationally, Chouteau County ranks 1768th of 3,222 U.S. counties for life-safety loss, 178th for life safety per 100k residents, 2098th for property loss, and 135th 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 Chouteau 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 Chouteau County See what a department sees

What Drives the Loss

56%
31%
13%
Property (buildings): $5.8M (55.9%)
Life safety: $3.2M (31.1%)
Agriculture: $1.3M (13.0%)

Total expected annual loss: $10,335,476 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 13% of expected annual loss in Chouteau 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)

Cold Wave
$2.0M
Avalanche
$913K
Lightning
$148K
Winter Weather
$96K
Strong Wind
$35K
Heat Wave
$26K

By property loss ($/yr)

Inland Flooding
$5.4M
Wildfire
$167K
Tornado
$68K
Earthquake
$40K
Cold Wave
$17K
Strong Wind
$14K

Census Tract Risk Map

Shaded by quintile across the census tracts in Chouteau 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

73%
27%
Volunteer: 73% (8)
Unreported: 27% (3)
Residents per Station
126
census population per registered station
Stations per 100k
795.8
registered stations per 100,000 residents

Department composition covers the 11 departments registered in NERIS Public for Chouteau County, MT. 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 Chouteau 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 11 departments
Department Est. Population Life-Safety Loss NRI Rating Stations
Belt Rural Volunteer Fire District 9,913 $4.6M Very High 2
Denton Rural Fire District 4,924 $3.4M Very High 1
Fort Benton Volunteer Fire Department 5,906 $3.2M Very High 1
Loma Rural Volunteer Fire Department 5,906 $3.2M Very High 1
Big Sandy Volunteer Fire Department 3,736 $1.9M Very High 0
Elim Volunter Fire Department 3,736 $1.9M Very High 0
Geraldine Volunteer Fire Department 3,736 $1.9M Very High 1
Highwood Rural Fire Department 3,736 $1.9M Very High 0
Carter County Rural Fire Department 3,478 $1.8M Very High 40
Carter Volunteer Fire Department 2,170 $1.3M Very High 1
Knees Volunteer Fire Company 2,170 $1.3M Very High 0
No departments match your search.

Risk Snapshot

11.2%
Poverty Rate
23.4%
Age 65+
13.6%
Disability Rate
5.7%
Uninsured
63.7%
Pre-1980 Housing
16.9%
Mobile Homes
25.2%
Vacancy Rate
7.5%
Wood Heat
$58,228
Median HH Income

FEMA Disaster Declarations

3
Last 10 Years
7
Last 25 Years
Severe Storm
Most Frequent

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