Celeste, TX
How exposed is Celeste to wildfire?
Celeste sits at the 76th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 481 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Celeste's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 75th percentile nationally.
Celeste's building exposure, zone by zone
481 buildings are counted in Celeste, and 59.3% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 40.8% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
Where Celeste ranks
Celeste's 76th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 48th ranking inside Texas does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 28 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Celeste ranks 7,732 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 17,695 by building count (1 is largest). Within Texas alone, it ranks 938 of 1,795 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Texas on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Celeste'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.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Celeste (59.3% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Celeste's figures come from
Celeste'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 Celeste's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.