Carolina, AL
How exposed is Carolina to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Carolina at the 76th national percentile for risk to structures, well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a score built from 219 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Carolina's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 77th percentile nationally.
Carolina's building exposure, zone by zone
99.5% of Carolina's 219 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 218 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 0.5% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
Carolina against the rest of the country
Carolina's risk sits at a similar level relative to Alabama (62nd percentile statewide) as it does nationally (76th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Carolina ranks 7,582 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,145 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alabama alone, it ranks 222 of 592 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alabama on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Carolina
Carolina's 76th-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 Carolina
With 99.5% of Carolina 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 Carolina's figures come from
Carolina's 76th-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 Carolina's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.