Chatham, VA
Chatham, VA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Chatham's 745 buildings earn a 42nd-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Chatham at the 44th national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Of Chatham's 745 counted buildings, 61.9% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Chatham against the rest of the country
Chatham's risk sits at a similar level relative to Virginia (37th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (42nd) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Chatham ranks 18,295 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 14,181 by building count (1 is largest). Within Virginia alone, it ranks 427 of 681 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Virginia on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 42nd national percentile, Chatham rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Hardening a home in Chatham
Because Direct exposure dominates in Chatham (61.9%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Chatham's 42nd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Chatham, see the exposure-zones guide.