East Stone Gap, VA
East Stone Gap wildfire risk explained
East Stone Gap sits at the 86th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 284 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts East Stone Gap at the 89th percentile, close to its 86th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
64.1% of East Stone Gap's 284 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 35.9% Direct and 0% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
East Stone Gap against the rest of the country
East Stone Gap's risk sits at a similar level relative to Virginia (96th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (86th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, East Stone Gap ranks 4,298 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 22,080 by building count (1 is largest). Within Virginia alone, it ranks 26 of 681 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Virginia on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
East Stone Gap's 86th-percentile, very high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Hardening a home in East Stone Gap
East Stone Gap's 64.1% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where East Stone Gap's figures come from
East Stone Gap's 86th-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 East Stone Gap's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.