Florence, AL
How exposed is Florence to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Florence lands at the 52nd percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 19,482 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Florence's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 55th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS puts 53.8% of Florence's 19,482 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 30.2% Direct and 16% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to. At 19,482 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Florence against the rest of the country
Florence's 52nd national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 8th ranking inside Alabama does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 44 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Florence ranks 15,273 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 730 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alabama alone, it ranks 547 of 592 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alabama on its state page.
Florence and the insurance market
Florence's elevated rating (52nd percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
Florence's 53.8% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Florence's 52nd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Florence, see the exposure-zones guide.