Bethany, MO
How exposed is Bethany to wildfire?
USFS scores Bethany at the 66th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (well above the national norm for wildfire risk), a figure built from 2,071 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Bethany at the 67th national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Bethany's buildings actually sit
Most of Bethany's buildings (63.9%) 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.
Where Bethany ranks
Bethany scores 66th nationally and 72nd within Missouri — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bethany ranks 10,749 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 7,284 by building count (1 is largest). Within Missouri alone, it ranks 299 of 1,062 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Missouri on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Bethany
Bethany's high rating (66th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Hardening a home in Bethany
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Bethany (63.9% 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
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 2,071 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Bethany. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Bethany, see the exposure-zones guide.