Ballard, UT
How exposed is Ballard to wildfire?
Ballard sits at the 57th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 767 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Ballard at the 56th national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Ballard's buildings actually sit
Direct exposure dominates in Ballard: 80.7% of its 767 buildings, versus 9% Indirect and 10.3% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Where Ballard ranks
Inside Utah, Ballard sits at just the 14th percentile even though it scores 57th nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Ballard ranks 13,663 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,952 by building count (1 is largest). Within Utah alone, it ranks 281 of 326 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Utah on its state page.
Ballard and the insurance market
Ballard's elevated wildfire rating (57th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 80.7% of Ballard 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 767 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Ballard. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Ballard, see the exposure-zones guide.