Buena Vista, CO
How exposed is Buena Vista to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Buena Vista lands at the 61st percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 2,098 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Buena Vista at the 54th percentile, close to its 61st-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
86.7% of Buena Vista's 2,098 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 13.4% Direct and 0% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Buena Vista against the rest of the country
Buena Vista's 61st national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 29th ranking inside Colorado does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 32 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Buena Vista ranks 12,218 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 7,194 by building count (1 is largest). Within Colorado alone, it ranks 336 of 472 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Colorado on its state page.
Buena Vista and the insurance market
Buena Vista's high rating (61st 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.
Hardening a home in Buena Vista
Buena Vista's 86.7% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Buena Vista's figures come from
Buena Vista's 61st-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 Buena Vista's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.