Cathcart, WA
How exposed is Cathcart to wildfire?
USFS scores Cathcart at the 10th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 1,637 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 Cathcart at the 11th percentile, close to its 10th-percentile risk score.
Where Cathcart's buildings actually sit
71.8% of Cathcart's 1,637 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 1,175 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 15.7% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 12.5% are Minimal.
Where Cathcart ranks
Cathcart's risk sits at a similar level relative to Washington (11th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (10th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Cathcart ranks 28,352 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,628 by building count (1 is largest). Within Washington alone, it ranks 562 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
Cathcart's low rating (10th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in Cathcart
With 71.8% of Cathcart 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 Cathcart's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Cathcart's 28,352-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Cathcart's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.