Charenton, LA
How exposed is Charenton to wildfire?
USFS scores Charenton at the 6th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 1,278 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Charenton at the 6th national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Charenton's buildings actually sit
45.4% of Charenton's 1,278 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 580 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 29.5% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 25.1% are Minimal.
Where Charenton ranks
Charenton scores 6th nationally and 1st within Louisiana — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Charenton ranks 29,756 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 10,207 by building count (1 is largest). Within Louisiana alone, it ranks 482 of 488 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Louisiana on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Charenton's low wildfire rating (6th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Charenton's 45.4% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
Where Charenton's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,278 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Charenton. The exposure-zones guide covers what Charenton's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.