Arborlook
Risk & Response
by Arborlook Insights

Berks County, PA

Community risk profile | NRI Score: 40.3 Relatively Moderate

433,015
Population
79
Departments
145
Stations
107
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
2.17
expected fatality-equivalents per year, natural hazards only
8th highest of 67
Life Safety per 100k
0.50
natural hazard fatality-equivalents per 100,000 residents
10th highest of 67
Natural Hazard Property Loss
$85.0M
expected building loss per year, natural hazards only
8th highest of 67
Property Loss per Resident
$196
natural hazard building loss per resident per year
59th highest of 67

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 Berks County, the largest single contributor is Cold Wave, 30% of the life-safety total.

Berks County carries an expected 2 natural hazard fatality-equivalents and $85.0M in building loss per year. Rank chips compare the 67 Pennsylvania counties. Nationally, Berks County ranks 258th of 3,222 U.S. counties for life-safety loss, 2539th for life safety per 100k residents, 262nd for property loss, and 2799th 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 Berks 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 Berks County See what a department sees

What Drives the Loss

71%
25%
Property (buildings): $85.0M (71.1%)
Life safety: $29.7M (24.8%)
Agriculture: $4.9M (4.1%)

Total expected annual loss: $119,509,471 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
$8.8M
Heat Wave
$5.0M
Inland Flooding
$3.7M
Strong Wind
$3.7M
Tornado
$2.8M
Lightning
$1.8M

By property loss ($/yr)

Inland Flooding
$64.5M
Hurricane
$9.9M
Earthquake
$4.5M
Tornado
$4.3M
Strong Wind
$1.2M
Winter Weather
$332K

Census Tract Risk Map

Shaded by quintile across the census tracts in Berks 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

10%
89%
Career: 1% (1)
Combination: 10% (8)
Volunteer: 89% (70)
Residents per Station
2,986
census population per registered station
Stations per 100k
33.5
registered stations per 100,000 residents

Department composition covers the 79 departments registered in NERIS Public for Berks County, PA. 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 Berks 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 79 departments
Department Est. Population Life-Safety Loss NRI Rating Stations
Hartsville Fire Company #1, Inc. 117,796 $8.0M Relatively Low 2
Pottstown Fire Department 65,925 $6.9M Relatively Moderate 4
Reading Pa Department Of Fire & Rescue Services 89,596 $5.8M Relatively Low 14
Friendship Hook & Ladder Company #1, Inc. 60,019 $5.1M Relatively Moderate 1
Birdsboro-Union Fire Department 78,549 $5.0M Relatively Moderate 2
Pennsburg Fire Company #1 50,716 $4.5M Relatively Low 2
Fleetwood Volunteer Fire Company #1 61,125 $4.1M Relatively Low 1
East Brandywine Fire Company 62,009 $3.8M Relatively Moderate 3
Bower Hill Volunteer Fire Department 60,597 $3.6M Relatively Low 1
Cumru Township Fire Department 60,560 $3.5M Relatively Moderate 6
Mount Penn Fire Company 1 51,553 $3.1M Relatively Low 2
Alum Bank Community Fire Company 54,674 $3.0M Relatively High 1
Main Township Volunteer Fire Company 62,835 $2.8M Relatively Moderate 2
Hereford Volunteer Fire Company, Inc. 27,569 $2.7M Relatively Moderate 1
Hawley Fire Department 40,354 $2.5M Relatively Low 1
Denver Fire Company 1 41,871 $2.4M Relatively Moderate 1
Corry Fire Department (Stanford Hose Company) 53,752 $2.4M Relatively Moderate 2
Saegertown Volunteer Fire Department 68,921 $2.4M Relatively Moderate 1
Exeter Township Volunteer Fire Department 32,403 $2.3M Relatively Low 3
Kennett Fire Company No 1 40,816 $2.3M Relatively Moderate 1
Liberty Fire Company 44,067 $2.3M Relatively High 3
Newmanstown Volunteer Fire Company 33,090 $2.1M Relatively Moderate 2
Lyons Volunteer Fire Company 20,080 $2.0M Relatively Moderate 1
Keystone Fire Company 1 31,996 $2.0M Relatively Low 1
Ruscombmanor Volunteer Fire Company 1 29,147 $1.8M Relatively Low 1
Fivepointville Fire Department 38,347 $1.7M Relatively Moderate 1
Altamont Fire Company 18,768 $1.7M Relatively High 1
American Hose Company #2 18,768 $1.7M Relatively High 2
Continental Hose Company #3 18,768 $1.7M Relatively High 1
Heights Fire Company 1 18,768 $1.7M Relatively High 1
William Penn Fire Company 1 18,768 $1.7M Relatively High 1
Township Of Spring Fire/Rescue Service 25,561 $1.6M Relatively Low 2
Muhlenberg Township Fire and Rescue 19,815 $1.5M Relatively Moderate 6
Honey Brook Fire Company 27,140 $1.5M Relatively High 2
Western Berks Fire Department 20,698 $1.3M Relatively Low 5
Oley Fire Company 22,728 $1.3M Relatively Low 2
Po-Mar-Lin Fire Company # 1 39,214 $1.3M Relatively Low 1
Lynnport Community Fire Company 1 14,145 $1.3M Relatively Moderate 1
Kutztown Fire Department 16,098 $1.3M Relatively Moderate 2
Ridgway Fire Department, Inc. 19,599 $1.2M Relatively High 4
Boyertown Area Fire & Rescue, Inc 15,827 $1.1M Relatively Moderate 2
Liberty Fire Company 15,827 $1.1M Relatively Moderate 1
The Union Fire Company #1 Of Hamburg, Berks County, Pennsylvania 14,320 $1.1M Relatively Moderate 4
Central Berks Fire Company No. 1 14,170 $1.0M Relatively Moderate 1
Amity Fire Company 14,331 $1.0M Relatively Moderate 1
Alsace Manor Fire Company 15,176 $958.2K Relatively Low 1
Blandon Fire Company No. 1 15,176 $958.2K Relatively Low 1
Brecknock Township Fire Company #1 19,286 $901.1K Relatively Moderate 1
Greenfields Fire Company Number One 12,489 $871.1K Relatively Moderate 1
Community Fire Company Of Frystown 12,708 $862.2K Relatively Moderate 1
Topton Volunteer Fire Company #1 12,161 $853.9K Relatively Moderate 1
Midway Volunteer Fire Department Of Washington County 23,257 $844.9K Relatively Moderate 2
Virginville Community Fire Company 11,557 $825.8K Relatively Moderate 1
Strausstown Volunteer Fire Company 12,874 $821.5K Very High 1
Wyomissing Fire Department 10,328 $770.3K Relatively High 1
Eastern Berks Fire Department 9,554 $768.3K Relatively Moderate 3
Friendship Fire Company #1 Morgantown 12,302 $742.6K Relatively Moderate 0
Twin Valley Fire Department 12,302 $742.6K Relatively Moderate 1
Earl Township Volunteer Fire Company 1 9,841 $735.9K Relatively Moderate 2
Berks Emergency Strike Team, Inc. 9,530 $716.3K Relatively Low 0
Shartlesville Community Fire Company No.1 11,241 $686.9K Relatively High 1
Shoemakersville Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 8,203 $650.4K Relatively Moderate 1
Bernville Community Fire Company 9,996 $643.4K Relatively High 1
Weisenberg Volunteer Fire Department 5,018 $629.5K Relatively Moderate 1
Gibraltar Fire Company 7,704 $570.9K Relatively Low 2
Keystone Fire Company 8,732 $563.5K Relatively High 2
Marian Fire Company 8,732 $563.5K Relatively High 1
Keystone Water Rescue 6,587 $560.7K Relatively High 2
Pioneer Hose Company 1 6,943 $445.1K Relatively High 2
Womelsdorf Volunteer Fire Company 6,943 $445.1K Relatively High 2
Community Fire Co. #1 Of Seisholtzville 6,015 $436.9K Relatively Low 1
Union Fire Company 1 5,875 $394.3K Relatively Moderate 2
Community Volunteer Fire Company Lower Alsace Township 5,333 $384.5K Relatively Low 2
Union Fire Company Of Bethel 5,701 $359.1K Relatively High 2
West Reading Fire Department 3,410 $258.3K Relatively Moderate 2
Mount Pleasant Fire Company 2,823 $181.1K Relatively Low 1
Central Fire Company 2,819 $164.3K Very Low 1
Kenhorst Volunteer Fire Company 1 2,131 $144.5K Very Low 1
Mount Aetna Rescue Fire Company 1 1,559 $101.2K Very Low 1
No departments match your search.

Risk Snapshot

12.2%
Poverty Rate
18.0%
Age 65+
13.5%
Disability Rate
7.3%
Uninsured
63.6%
Pre-1980 Housing
2.8%
Mobile Homes
4.9%
Vacancy Rate
2.7%
Wood Heat
$82,784
Median HH Income

FEMA Disaster Declarations

3
Last 10 Years
13
Last 25 Years
Severe Storm
Most Frequent

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