Big Chimney, WV
How exposed is Big Chimney to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Big Chimney lands at the 79th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 452 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Big Chimney's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 80th percentile nationally.
Big Chimney's building exposure, zone by zone
452 buildings are counted in Big Chimney, and 50.4% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 49.6% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
How Big Chimney compares
Big Chimney scores 79th nationally and 71st within West Virginia — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Big Chimney ranks 6,698 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 18,244 by building count (1 is largest). Within West Virginia alone, it ranks 126 of 429 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for West Virginia on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Big Chimney
Big Chimney's 79th-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Hardening a home in Big Chimney
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Big Chimney (50.4% 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 Big Chimney's 6,698-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Big Chimney, see the exposure-zones guide.