Bluefield, WV
How exposed is Bluefield to wildfire?
Bluefield's 5,367 buildings earn a 73rd-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — well above the national norm for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Bluefield at the 74th national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Indirect exposure is dominant in Bluefield (80.5% of 5,367 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 19.5% sit in the Direct zone. At 5,367 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Where Bluefield ranks
Bluefield scores 73rd nationally and 67th 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, Bluefield ranks 8,621 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,215 by building count (1 is largest). Within West Virginia alone, it ranks 143 of 429 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for West Virginia on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Bluefield
At the 73rd percentile nationally, Bluefield carries the high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
Hardening a home in Bluefield
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Bluefield (80.5% 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 Bluefield's 8,621-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Bluefield, see the exposure-zones guide.