Beckley, WV
Beckley wildfire risk explained
Beckley's 8,853 buildings earn a 56th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Beckley at the 58th national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Indirect exposure is dominant in Beckley (70.7% of 8,853 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 15% sit in the Direct zone. At 8,853 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
How Beckley compares
Beckley's risk sits at a similar level relative to West Virginia (45th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (56th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Beckley ranks 13,882 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 1,880 by building count (1 is largest). Within West Virginia alone, it ranks 235 of 429 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for West Virginia on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 56th national percentile, Beckley rates elevated 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 ember exposure the dominant pattern in Beckley (70.7% 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
Every one of the two percentiles behind Beckley's 13,882-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Beckley, see the exposure-zones guide.