Chilili, NM
How exposed is Chilili to wildfire?
USFS scores Chilili at the 95th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally), a figure built from 86 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Chilili at the 94th national percentile — 2 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
100% of Chilili's 86 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 86 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 0% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
How Chilili compares
Chilili's risk sits at a similar level relative to New Mexico (86th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (95th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Chilili ranks 1,515 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 29,656 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Mexico alone, it ranks 72 of 495 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Mexico on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 95th percentile nationally, Chilili 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.
What would actually reduce this score
With 100% of Chilili in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
Where Chilili's figures come from
Chilili's 95th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Chilili's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.