Bayou Goula, LA
How exposed is Bayou Goula to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Bayou Goula lands at the 12th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 318 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Bayou Goula at the 12th national percentile — 0 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Bayou Goula's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS classifies 61.6% of Bayou Goula's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 36.8% Direct and 1.6% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
How Bayou Goula compares
Bayou Goula's risk sits at a similar level relative to Louisiana (8th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (12th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bayou Goula ranks 27,798 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 21,154 by building count (1 is largest). Within Louisiana alone, it ranks 450 of 488 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Louisiana on its state page.
Bayou Goula and the insurance market
At the 12th national percentile, Bayou Goula rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 61.6% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Bayou Goula gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Bayou Goula's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Bayou Goula's 27,798-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Bayou Goula's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.