Burgaw, NC
Burgaw, NC's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Burgaw at the 74th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (well above the national norm for wildfire risk), a figure built from 1,737 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Burgaw at the 73rd percentile, close to its 74th-percentile risk score.
Burgaw's building exposure, zone by zone
Direct exposure dominates in Burgaw: 51.7% of its 1,737 buildings, versus 48.3% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Burgaw against the rest of the country
Burgaw's risk sits at a similar level relative to North Carolina (76th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (74th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Burgaw ranks 8,166 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,275 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Carolina alone, it ranks 189 of 772 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Carolina on its state page.
Burgaw and the insurance market
Burgaw's 74th-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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 51.7% of Burgaw 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.
Where Burgaw's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,737 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Burgaw. The exposure-zones guide covers what Burgaw's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.