Boaz, AL
Boaz, AL's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Boaz at the 72nd national percentile for risk to structures, well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a score built from 5,372 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Boaz at the 77th national percentile — 5 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
52.5% of Boaz's 5,372 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 2,818 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 43% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 4.5% are Minimal. At 5,372 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Boaz against the rest of the country
Boaz ranks lower within Alabama (53rd percentile statewide) than its 72nd national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Boaz ranks 8,685 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,211 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alabama alone, it ranks 280 of 592 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alabama on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Boaz
Boaz's 72nd-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 Boaz
With 52.5% of Boaz in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Boaz's 72nd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Boaz, see the exposure-zones guide.