Carbon Hill, AL
Carbon Hill, AL's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Carbon Hill lands at the 71st percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 1,240 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 Carbon Hill at the 75th percentile, close to its 71st-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
1,240 buildings are counted in Carbon Hill, and 55% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 0% rated Minimal.
Carbon Hill against the rest of the country
Carbon Hill ranks lower within Alabama (50th percentile statewide) than its 71st national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Carbon Hill ranks 9,000 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 10,407 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alabama alone, it ranks 295 of 592 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alabama on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Carbon Hill's 71st-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 Carbon Hill
With 55% of Carbon Hill 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 Carbon Hill's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,240 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Carbon Hill. The exposure-zones guide covers what Carbon Hill's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.