Bellwood, VA
Bellwood wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Bellwood at the 33rd national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 3,444 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Bellwood at the 34th percentile, close to its 33rd-percentile risk score.
Where Bellwood's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 44.5% of Bellwood's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 30.5% Indirect share and far above its 25.1% Minimal share — a profile where 1,532 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
How Bellwood compares
Bellwood's risk sits at a similar level relative to Virginia (23rd percentile statewide) as it does nationally (33rd) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bellwood ranks 21,101 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,853 by building count (1 is largest). Within Virginia alone, it ranks 527 of 681 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Virginia on its state page.
Bellwood and the insurance market
Bellwood's moderate rating (33rd percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Bellwood (44.5%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Bellwood's figures come from
Bellwood's 33rd-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 Bellwood's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.