Elgin (Kershaw), SC
How exposed is Elgin (Kershaw) to wildfire?
Elgin (Kershaw)'s 861 buildings earn a 66th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — well above the national norm for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Elgin (Kershaw) at the 66th national percentile — 0 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS puts 62% of Elgin (Kershaw)'s 861 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 38% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
How Elgin (Kershaw) compares
Elgin (Kershaw)'s 66th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 40th ranking inside South Carolina does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 26 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Elgin (Kershaw) ranks 10,757 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,073 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Carolina alone, it ranks 286 of 474 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Carolina on its state page.
Elgin (Kershaw) and the insurance market
Elgin (Kershaw)'s 66th-percentile, 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Elgin (Kershaw) (62% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Elgin (Kershaw)'s figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Elgin (Kershaw)'s 10,757-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Elgin (Kershaw)'s dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.