Forks, WA
How exposed is Forks to wildfire?
USFS scores Forks at the 21st national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 2,010 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Forks at the 22nd national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS puts 79.9% of Forks's 2,010 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 20.2% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Forks against the rest of the country
Forks's risk sits at a similar level relative to Washington (33rd percentile statewide) as it does nationally (21st) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Forks ranks 24,819 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 7,449 by building count (1 is largest). Within Washington alone, it ranks 421 of 628 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Washington on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Forks
Forks's moderate wildfire rating (21st percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
Hardening a home in Forks
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Forks (79.9% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Forks's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Forks's 24,819-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Forks's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.