Buchanan, VA
Buchanan, VA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Buchanan at the 74th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (well above the national norm for wildfire risk), a figure built from 834 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Buchanan at the 72nd national percentile — 2 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Buchanan's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Buchanan's buildings (52.8%) 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 Buchanan ranks
There's little gap between Buchanan's 74th national percentile and its 88th percentile inside Virginia, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Buchanan ranks 8,211 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,311 by building count (1 is largest). Within Virginia alone, it ranks 80 of 681 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Virginia on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 74th percentile nationally, Buchanan 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 Buchanan
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Buchanan (52.8% 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 834 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Buchanan. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Buchanan, see the exposure-zones guide.