Central, AK
Central wildfire risk explained
Central's 149 buildings earn a 96th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Central at the 96th percentile, close to its 96th-percentile risk score.
Where Central's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 100% of Central's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 0% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 149 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
Central against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Central's 96th national percentile and its 87th percentile inside Alaska, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Central ranks 1,310 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 26,900 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alaska alone, it ranks 40 of 322 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alaska on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Central's 96th-percentile, very 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because Direct exposure dominates in Central (100%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Central's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Central's 1,310-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Central's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.