Elk Garden, WV
How exposed is Elk Garden to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Elk Garden at the 53rd national percentile for risk to structures, modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a score built from 144 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Elk Garden's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 52nd percentile nationally.
Elk Garden's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Elk Garden's buildings (63.9%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
Where Elk Garden ranks
Elk Garden scores 53rd nationally and 41st within West Virginia — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Elk Garden ranks 14,704 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 27,139 by building count (1 is largest). Within West Virginia alone, it ranks 254 of 429 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for West Virginia on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Elk Garden's elevated wildfire rating (53rd percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
What would actually reduce this score
Because 63.9% of Elk Garden'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 Elk Garden's figures come from
Elk Garden's 53rd-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 Elk Garden's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.