Chester, WV
How exposed is Chester to wildfire?
Chester's 1,322 buildings earn a 37th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Chester at the 37th national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Chester's buildings actually sit
91.4% of Chester's 1,322 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 8.3% Direct and 0.4% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Where Chester ranks
Chester ranks lower within West Virginia (8th percentile statewide) than its 37th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Chester ranks 20,000 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,965 by building count (1 is largest). Within West Virginia alone, it ranks 395 of 429 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for West Virginia on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Chester's moderate rating (37th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Chester (91.4% 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
Every one of the two percentiles behind Chester's 20,000-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Chester, see the exposure-zones guide.