Cope, SC
Cope wildfire risk explained
Cope sits at the 65th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 79 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Cope at the 65th percentile, close to its 65th-percentile risk score.
Cope's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Cope's buildings (77.2%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
Cope against the rest of the country
Inside South Carolina, Cope sits at just the 36th percentile even though it scores 65th nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Cope ranks 10,947 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 29,943 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Carolina alone, it ranks 301 of 474 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Carolina on its state page.
Cope and the insurance market
At the 65th percentile nationally, Cope 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Cope's 77.2% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Cope's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Cope's 10,947-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Cope's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.