Fairchild AFB, WA
Fairchild AFB wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Fairchild AFB lands at the 87th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 938 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Fairchild AFB at the 86th percentile, close to its 87th-percentile risk score.
Fairchild AFB's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS puts 92% of Fairchild AFB's 938 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 5.8% Direct and 2.2% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Where Fairchild AFB ranks
Fairchild AFB's risk sits at a similar level relative to Washington (78th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (87th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Fairchild AFB ranks 4,207 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 12,410 by building count (1 is largest). Within Washington alone, it ranks 142 of 628 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Washington on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Fairchild AFB's 87th-percentile, very 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 Fairchild AFB (92% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Fairchild AFB's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 938 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Fairchild AFB. The exposure-zones guide covers what Fairchild AFB's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.