Carnation, WA
Carnation wildfire risk explained
Carnation's 1,002 buildings earn a 29th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Carnation at the 30th national percentile — 0 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
Indirect exposure is dominant in Carnation (81.5% of 1,002 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 18.5% sit in the Direct zone.
How Carnation compares
Within Washington, Carnation ranks higher (48th percentile) than it does nationally (29th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Carnation ranks 22,361 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,922 by building count (1 is largest). Within Washington alone, it ranks 329 of 628 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Washington on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Carnation's moderate rating (29th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
Carnation's 81.5% 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 Carnation's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Carnation's 22,361-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Carnation's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.