Fitzgerald, GA
Fitzgerald wildfire risk explained
Fitzgerald sits at the 61st 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 4,461 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Fitzgerald's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 62nd percentile nationally.
Where Fitzgerald's buildings actually sit
Of Fitzgerald's 4,461 counted buildings, 49.2% carry Direct exposure and only 45.4% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Where Fitzgerald ranks
Fitzgerald ranks lower within Georgia (23rd percentile statewide) than its 61st national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Fitzgerald ranks 12,256 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,829 by building count (1 is largest). Within Georgia alone, it ranks 516 of 669 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Georgia on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Fitzgerald
Fitzgerald's 61st-percentile, 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
Fitzgerald's 49.2% 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.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Fitzgerald's 12,256-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Fitzgerald, see the exposure-zones guide.