Algoma, MS
How exposed is Algoma to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Algoma lands at the 67th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 533 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Algoma's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 69th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
99.6% of Algoma's 533 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 531 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 0.4% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
Algoma against the rest of the country
Algoma's 67th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 48th ranking inside Mississippi does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 19 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Algoma ranks 10,493 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 16,826 by building count (1 is largest). Within Mississippi alone, it ranks 220 of 420 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Mississippi on its state page.
Algoma and the insurance market
Algoma's 67th-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Hardening a home in Algoma
With 99.6% of Algoma in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 533 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Algoma. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Algoma, see the exposure-zones guide.