Belleair Beach, FL
Belleair Beach wildfire risk explained
Belleair Beach sits at the 54th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 861 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Belleair Beach at the 59th percentile, close to its 54th-percentile risk score.
Where Belleair Beach's buildings actually sit
Only 3% of Belleair Beach's 861 buildings carry Direct exposure and 0% carry Indirect; the remaining 97% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
How Belleair Beach compares
Belleair Beach's 54th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 7th ranking inside Florida does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 47 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Belleair Beach ranks 14,520 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,064 by building count (1 is largest). Within Florida alone, it ranks 890 of 955 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Florida on its state page.
Belleair Beach and the insurance market
At the 54th national percentile, Belleair Beach rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
Even with 97% of Belleair Beach outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
Where Belleair Beach's figures come from
Belleair Beach's 54th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Belleair Beach's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.