Bayou La Batre, AL
Bayou La Batre wildfire risk explained
Bayou La Batre's 1,266 buildings earn a 97th-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.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Bayou La Batre at the 97th percentile, close to its 97th-percentile risk score.
Where Bayou La Batre's buildings actually sit
1,266 buildings are counted in Bayou La Batre, and 51.5% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 0.2% rated Minimal.
Bayou La Batre against the rest of the country
Bayou La Batre's risk sits at a similar level relative to Alabama (100th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (97th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bayou La Batre ranks 868 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 10,265 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alabama alone, it ranks 1 of 592 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alabama on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Bayou La Batre's very high rating (97th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Bayou La Batre's 51.5% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
Where Bayou La Batre's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Bayou La Batre's 868-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Bayou La Batre's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.