Fincastle, KY
Fincastle wildfire risk explained
Fincastle's 317 buildings earn a 9th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Fincastle's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 10th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 44.5% of Fincastle's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 23% Indirect share and far above its 32.5% Minimal share — a profile where 141 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
Fincastle against the rest of the country
Fincastle's risk sits at a similar level relative to Kentucky (4th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (9th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Fincastle ranks 28,553 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 21,182 by building count (1 is largest). Within Kentucky alone, it ranks 529 of 552 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Kentucky on its state page.
Fincastle and the insurance market
Fincastle's low rating (9th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in Fincastle
Because Direct exposure dominates in Fincastle (44.5%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Fincastle's 28,553-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Fincastle, see the exposure-zones guide.