Cherry Branch, NC
Cherry Branch wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Cherry Branch at the 71st national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (well above the national norm for wildfire risk), a figure built from 500 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Cherry Branch at the 70th national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Cherry Branch's buildings actually sit
Direct exposure dominates in Cherry Branch: 86.2% of its 500 buildings, versus 13% Indirect and 0.8% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Where Cherry Branch ranks
Cherry Branch scores 71st nationally and 71st within North Carolina — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Cherry Branch ranks 9,238 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 17,362 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Carolina alone, it ranks 225 of 772 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Carolina on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Cherry Branch
At the 71st percentile nationally, Cherry Branch carries the 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.
Hardening a home in Cherry Branch
Cherry Branch's 86.2% 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.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 500 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Cherry Branch. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Cherry Branch, see the exposure-zones guide.