Cripple Creek, CO
How exposed is Cripple Creek to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Cripple Creek lands at the 98th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 860 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Cripple Creek's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 97th percentile nationally.
Cripple Creek's building exposure, zone by zone
53.4% of Cripple Creek's 860 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 46.6% Direct and 0% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Cripple Creek against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Cripple Creek's 98th national percentile and its 90th percentile inside Colorado, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Cripple Creek ranks 690 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,077 by building count (1 is largest). Within Colorado alone, it ranks 45 of 472 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Colorado on its state page.
Cripple Creek and the insurance market
Cripple Creek's very high rating (98th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because 53.4% of Cripple Creek'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 Cripple Creek's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Cripple Creek's 690-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Cripple Creek's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.