Clay, WV
Clay, WV's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Clay lands at the 86th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 345 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Clay at the 88th percentile, close to its 86th-percentile risk score.
Where Clay's buildings actually sit
55.9% of Clay's 345 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 193 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 44.1% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
How Clay compares
There's little gap between Clay's 86th national percentile and its 76th percentile inside West Virginia, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Clay ranks 4,301 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 20,463 by building count (1 is largest). Within West Virginia alone, it ranks 106 of 429 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for West Virginia on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Clay
Clay's 86th-percentile, very high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 55.9% of Clay 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.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 345 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Clay. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Clay, see the exposure-zones guide.