Alum Creek, WV
Alum Creek, WV's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Alum Creek lands at the 73rd percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 1,111 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Alum Creek at the 77th percentile, close to its 73rd-percentile risk score.
Alum Creek's building exposure, zone by zone
Of Alum Creek's 1,111 counted buildings, 81.8% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
How Alum Creek compares
Alum Creek's risk sits at a similar level relative to West Virginia (68th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (73rd) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Alum Creek ranks 8,401 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,217 by building count (1 is largest). Within West Virginia alone, it ranks 139 of 429 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for West Virginia on its state page.
Alum Creek and the insurance market
Alum Creek's high rating (73rd percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Alum Creek's 81.8% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,111 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Alum Creek. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Alum Creek, see the exposure-zones guide.