Fort Ashby, WV
Fort Ashby wildfire risk explained
Fort Ashby sits at the 50th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 843 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Fort Ashby at the 50th national percentile — 0 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 57.7% of Fort Ashby's 843 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 42.4% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
How Fort Ashby compares
Fort Ashby scores 50th nationally and 37th within West Virginia — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Fort Ashby ranks 15,745 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,229 by building count (1 is largest). Within West Virginia alone, it ranks 269 of 429 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for West Virginia on its state page.
Fort Ashby and the insurance market
Fort Ashby's elevated wildfire rating (50th 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.
What would actually reduce this score
Because 57.7% of Fort Ashby's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Fort Ashby's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 843 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Fort Ashby. The exposure-zones guide covers what Fort Ashby's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.