Bessemer City, NC
How exposed is Bessemer City to wildfire?
Bessemer City sits at the 57th 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 2,723 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 Bessemer City at the 61st percentile, close to its 57th-percentile risk score.
Bessemer City's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Bessemer City's buildings (50.7%) 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.
Where Bessemer City ranks
Bessemer City scores 57th nationally and 55th within North Carolina — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bessemer City ranks 13,528 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,894 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Carolina alone, it ranks 348 of 772 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Carolina on its state page.
Bessemer City and the insurance market
At the 57th national percentile, Bessemer City 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
Bessemer City's 50.7% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Bessemer City's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Bessemer City's 13,528-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Bessemer City's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.