Cheney, WA
Cheney, WA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Cheney sits at the 87th 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 3,070 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 Cheney at the 88th percentile, close to its 87th-percentile risk score.
Where Cheney's buildings actually sit
3,070 buildings are counted in Cheney, and 87.7% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 6.8% in Direct exposure or the 5.5% rated Minimal.
Cheney against the rest of the country
Cheney's risk sits at a similar level relative to Washington (77th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (87th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Cheney ranks 4,270 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,326 by building count (1 is largest). Within Washington alone, it ranks 144 of 628 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Washington on its state page.
Cheney and the insurance market
Cheney's very high rating (87th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Hardening a home in Cheney
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Cheney (87.7% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Cheney's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Cheney's 4,270-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Cheney's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.