Barling, AR
Barling wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Barling lands at the 79th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 2,298 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Barling at the 82nd national percentile — 3 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Barling's buildings actually sit
2,298 buildings are counted in Barling, and 56.8% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 19% in Direct exposure or the 24.2% rated Minimal.
Where Barling ranks
There's little gap between Barling's 79th national percentile and its 77th percentile inside Arkansas, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Barling ranks 6,575 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 6,700 by building count (1 is largest). Within Arkansas alone, it ranks 136 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
Barling's 79th-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.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Barling (56.8% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 2,298 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Barling. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Barling, see the exposure-zones guide.