Dry Ridge, KY
Dry Ridge wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Dry Ridge at the 23rd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 994 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Dry Ridge at the 25th percentile, close to its 23rd-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
56.9% of Dry Ridge's 994 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 566 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 43.1% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
How Dry Ridge compares
Compare Dry Ridge's two percentiles: 42nd within Kentucky, only 23rd nationally — a gap of 19 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Dry Ridge ranks 24,358 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,979 by building count (1 is largest). Within Kentucky alone, it ranks 324 of 552 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Kentucky on its state page.
Dry Ridge and the insurance market
At the 23rd national percentile, Dry Ridge rates moderate for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because Direct exposure dominates in Dry Ridge (56.9%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Dry Ridge's 23rd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Dry Ridge, see the exposure-zones guide.