Ethel, MS
Ethel, MS's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Ethel sits at the 74th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 278 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Ethel at the 76th national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Ethel's buildings actually sit
Direct exposure dominates in Ethel: 88.5% of its 278 buildings, versus 11.5% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
How Ethel compares
There's little gap between Ethel's 74th national percentile and its 70th percentile inside Mississippi, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Ethel ranks 8,190 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 22,265 by building count (1 is largest). Within Mississippi alone, it ranks 129 of 420 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Mississippi on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Ethel
Ethel's high rating (74th 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
Ethel's 88.5% 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 Ethel's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Ethel's 8,190-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Ethel's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.