Big Rock, VA
Big Rock wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Big Rock at the 93rd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally), a figure built from 219 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Big Rock's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 95th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
66.2% of Big Rock's 219 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 145 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 33.8% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
How Big Rock compares
There's little gap between Big Rock's 93rd national percentile and its 100th percentile inside Virginia, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Big Rock ranks 2,094 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,179 by building count (1 is largest). Within Virginia alone, it ranks 2 of 681 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Virginia on its state page.
Big Rock and the insurance market
Big Rock's very high rating (93rd 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Big Rock's 66.2% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
Where Big Rock's figures come from
Big Rock's 93rd-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 Big Rock's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.