Cottageville, WV
How exposed is Cottageville to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Cottageville lands at the 46th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 114 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Cottageville's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 47th percentile nationally.
Cottageville's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Cottageville's buildings (63.2%) 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.
How Cottageville compares
Inside West Virginia, Cottageville sits at just the 30th percentile even though it scores 46th 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, Cottageville ranks 17,193 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 28,484 by building count (1 is largest). Within West Virginia alone, it ranks 299 of 429 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for West Virginia on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Cottageville's elevated wildfire rating (46th 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Cottageville (63.2% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Cottageville's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 114 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Cottageville. The exposure-zones guide covers what Cottageville's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.