Cottonwood, AL
How exposed is Cottonwood to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Cottonwood at the 57th national percentile for risk to structures, modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a score built from 881 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Cottonwood at the 59th percentile, close to its 57th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
83.8% of Cottonwood's 881 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 738 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 16.1% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0.1% are Minimal.
Where Cottonwood ranks
Cottonwood's 57th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 17th ranking inside Alabama does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 40 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Cottonwood ranks 13,476 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 12,893 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alabama alone, it ranks 489 of 592 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alabama on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 57th national percentile, Cottonwood rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
Cottonwood's 83.8% 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 Cottonwood's figures come from
Cottonwood's 57th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Cottonwood's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.