Bancroft, WV
How exposed is Bancroft to wildfire?
Bancroft sits at the 67th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 217 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Bancroft at the 67th national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS puts 89.9% of Bancroft's 217 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 8.3% Direct and 1.8% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
How Bancroft compares
There's little gap between Bancroft's 67th national percentile and its 60th percentile inside West Virginia, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bancroft ranks 10,418 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,258 by building count (1 is largest). Within West Virginia alone, it ranks 172 of 429 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for West Virginia on its state page.
Bancroft and the insurance market
At the 67th percentile nationally, Bancroft carries the high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
Hardening a home in Bancroft
Because 89.9% of Bancroft's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Bancroft's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Bancroft's 10,418-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Bancroft's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.