Fairbanks, AK
How exposed is Fairbanks to wildfire?
Fairbanks's 9,307 buildings earn a 90th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Fairbanks at the 89th percentile, close to its 90th-percentile risk score.
Where Fairbanks's buildings actually sit
Indirect exposure is dominant in Fairbanks (36.4% of 9,307 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 28.4% sit in the Direct zone. At 9,307 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
How Fairbanks compares
Fairbanks scores 90th nationally and 75th within Alaska — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Fairbanks ranks 3,170 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 1,767 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alaska alone, it ranks 79 of 322 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alaska on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Fairbanks's very high rating (90th 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
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Fairbanks (36.4% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Fairbanks's figures come from
Fairbanks's 90th-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 Fairbanks's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.