Chehalis, WA
Chehalis, WA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Chehalis at the 23rd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 3,526 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 Chehalis at the 26th percentile, close to its 23rd-percentile risk score.
Where Chehalis's buildings actually sit
92.4% of Chehalis's 3,526 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 7.6% Direct and 0% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Where Chehalis ranks
Chehalis scores 23rd nationally and 37th within Washington — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Chehalis ranks 24,376 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,742 by building count (1 is largest). Within Washington alone, it ranks 398 of 628 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Washington on its state page.
Chehalis and the insurance market
Chehalis's moderate rating (23rd percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because 92.4% of Chehalis's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Chehalis's 23rd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Chehalis, see the exposure-zones guide.