Bayfield, CO
Bayfield, CO's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Bayfield's 1,261 buildings earn a 88th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Bayfield's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 88th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Indirect exposure is dominant in Bayfield (67.8% of 1,261 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 32.2% sit in the Direct zone.
Where Bayfield ranks
Bayfield's 88th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 71st ranking inside Colorado does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 18 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bayfield ranks 3,743 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 10,288 by building count (1 is largest). Within Colorado alone, it ranks 140 of 472 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Colorado on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Bayfield's 88th-percentile, very 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
Bayfield's 67.8% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,261 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Bayfield. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Bayfield, see the exposure-zones guide.