El Duende, NM
El Duende wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts El Duende at the 86th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 343 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, El Duende's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 81st percentile nationally.
El Duende's building exposure, zone by zone
Direct exposure dominates in El Duende: 86.6% of its 343 buildings, versus 13.4% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
How El Duende compares
El Duende's 86th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 64th ranking inside New Mexico does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 21 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, El Duende ranks 4,579 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 20,492 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Mexico alone, it ranks 177 of 495 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Mexico on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
El Duende's very high rating (86th 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
El Duende's 86.6% 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 El Duende's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 343 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for El Duende. The exposure-zones guide covers what El Duende's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.