Cordele, GA
How exposed is Cordele to wildfire?
Cordele sits at the 59th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 4,876 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Cordele at the 59th national percentile — 0 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
Most of Cordele's buildings (53.2%) 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.
Cordele against the rest of the country
Cordele's 59th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 17th ranking inside Georgia does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 42 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Cordele ranks 12,821 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,508 by building count (1 is largest). Within Georgia alone, it ranks 554 of 669 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Georgia on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Cordele's elevated wildfire rating (59th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
Hardening a home in Cordele
Because 53.2% of Cordele's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Cordele's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 4,876 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Cordele. The exposure-zones guide covers what Cordele's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.