Columbia, AL
Columbia wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Columbia at the 65th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (well above the national norm for wildfire risk), a figure built from 584 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Columbia at the 66th national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Columbia's building exposure, zone by zone
74% of Columbia's 584 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 432 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 26% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
Where Columbia ranks
Columbia's 65th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 35th ranking inside Alabama does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 30 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Columbia ranks 11,112 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 16,040 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alabama alone, it ranks 384 of 592 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alabama on its state page.
Columbia and the insurance market
At the 65th percentile nationally, Columbia 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.
What would actually reduce this score
Columbia's 74% 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.
Where Columbia's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Columbia's 11,112-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Columbia's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.