Banks, AR
Banks wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Banks lands at the 62nd percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 86 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Banks at the 61st national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
86 buildings are counted in Banks, and 61.6% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 0% rated Minimal.
Where Banks ranks
Banks's 62nd national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 44th ranking inside Arkansas does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 18 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Banks ranks 12,059 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 29,640 by building count (1 is largest). Within Arkansas alone, it ranks 343 of 614 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Arkansas on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Banks's 62nd-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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 61.6% of Banks 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.
Where Banks's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Banks's 12,059-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Banks's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.