Etowah, AR
Etowah wildfire risk explained
Etowah sits at the 10th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 188 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Etowah at the 8th national percentile — 1 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
Only 35.6% of Etowah's 188 buildings carry Direct exposure and 22.9% carry Indirect; the remaining 41.5% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
Etowah against the rest of the country
Etowah's risk sits at a similar level relative to Arkansas (5th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (10th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Etowah ranks 28,512 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 25,308 by building count (1 is largest). Within Arkansas alone, it ranks 585 of 614 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Arkansas on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 10th national percentile, Etowah rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Even with 41.5% of Etowah outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 188 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Etowah. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Etowah, see the exposure-zones guide.