Bedford, KY
How exposed is Bedford to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Bedford at the 25th national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 356 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Bedford's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 26th percentile nationally.
Bedford's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Bedford's buildings (55.9%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
Bedford against the rest of the country
Compare Bedford's two percentiles: 46th within Kentucky, only 25th nationally — a gap of 22 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bedford ranks 23,729 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 20,158 by building count (1 is largest). Within Kentucky alone, it ranks 296 of 552 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Kentucky on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 25th national percentile, Bedford rates moderate 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 Bedford (55.9% 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 Bedford's 23,729-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Bedford, see the exposure-zones guide.