Chelan, WA
Chelan, WA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Chelan sits at the 98th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 2,812 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Chelan at the 99th percentile, close to its 98th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Chelan's buildings (77.6%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
Where Chelan ranks
There's little gap between Chelan's 98th national percentile and its 96th percentile inside Washington, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Chelan ranks 584 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,740 by building count (1 is largest). Within Washington alone, it ranks 24 of 628 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Washington on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Chelan
At the 98th percentile nationally, Chelan carries the very high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Chelan (77.6% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Chelan's 98th-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 Chelan, see the exposure-zones guide.