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.
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 Essex County, the largest single contributor is Heat Wave, 42% of the life-safety total.
Essex County carries an expected 3 natural hazard fatality-equivalents and $167.9M in building loss per year. Rank chips compare the 21 New Jersey counties. Nationally, Essex County ranks 154th of 3,222 U.S. counties for life-safety loss, 2788th for life safety per 100k residents, 117th for property loss, and 2811th 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 Essex 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 Essex County See what a department seesWhat Drives the Loss
Total expected annual loss: $214,065,829 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 Essex 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 34 departments registered in NERIS Public for Essex County, NJ. 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 Essex 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 ▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newark Fire Division | 288,267 | $15.0M | Relatively Low | 15 |
| EAST NEWARK FIRE | 287,347 | $14.9M | Relatively Low | 1 |
| North Hudson Regional Fire & Rescue | 241,802 | $12.1M | Relatively Low | 17 |
| Middletown Township Fire Department | 112,041 | $9.1M | Relatively Moderate | 11 |
| Toms River Fire Department | 132,951 | $6.2M | Relatively Moderate | 14 |
| Cranford Fire Department | 53,561 | $3.9M | Relatively Moderate | 1 |
| East Orange Fire Department | 62,879 | $3.1M | Relatively Low | 4 |
| Independence Township Volunteer Fire Department | 32,327 | $2.9M | Relatively Moderate | 1 |
| Irvington Fire Department | 53,429 | $2.7M | Relatively Low | 3 |
| Bloomfield Fire Department | 47,262 | $2.7M | Relatively Moderate | 4 |
| Bayville Volunteer Fire Company (Berkeley Township #1) | 56,637 | $2.6M | Relatively Moderate | 1 |
| Nutley Fire Department | 46,218 | $2.5M | Relatively Moderate | 3 |
| WEST ORANGE FIRE DEPARTMENT | 44,294 | $2.3M | Relatively Moderate | 5 |
| Montclair Fire Department | 36,943 | $2.0M | Relatively Low | 3 |
| City Of Orange Township Fire Department | 29,300 | $1.8M | Relatively Moderate | 2 |
| Belleville Fire Department | 33,686 | $1.7M | Relatively Moderate | 3 |
| NEW VERNON VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT | 36,559 | $1.7M | Relatively Moderate | 1 |
| Bordentown Township Fire District #2 | 27,753 | $1.6M | Relatively Moderate | 2 |
| Livingston Fire Department | 29,800 | $1.5M | Relatively High | 3 |
| Salem Fire Department | 14,810 | $1.5M | Relatively Moderate | 2 |
| Township Of Fairfield Fire Department | 7,058 | $1.1M | Very High | 2 |
| Alloway Township Fire Company | 16,187 | $1.1M | Relatively Moderate | 2 |
| Township Of Millburn | 20,136 | $1.0M | Relatively High | 5 |
| Bamber Lakes Volunteer Fire Company #1 | 17,747 | $879.6K | Relatively High | 1 |
| Verona Volunteer Fire Department | 12,532 | $609.4K | Relatively Low | 2 |
| Cedar Grove Fire Department | 11,988 | $566.0K | Relatively High | 3 |
| West Caldwell Volunteer Fire Department | 9,310 | $520.0K | Relatively Low | 1 |
| Caldwell Volunteer Fire Department | 9,629 | $457.2K | Relatively Low | 1 |
| Essex Fells Fire Department | 8,959 | $429.5K | Relatively Low | 1 |
| Mine Hill Fire Department | 5,978 | $352.1K | Very Low | 1 |
| Roseland Volunteer Fire Department | 5,441 | $284.8K | Relatively High | 1 |
| Port Authority of New York and New Jersey | 2,331 | $280.6K | Very High | 13 |
| North Caldwell Fire Department | 5,753 | $276.7K | Relatively High | 1 |
| Elmer Fire Department | 4,147 | $269.3K | Very Low | 1 |
Risk Snapshot
FEMA Disaster Declarations
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