WildfireRiskFinder

Fort Lewis, WA

Fort Lewis wildfire risk explained

Moderate
32ndpercentile nationally

Out of every US place USFS scores, Fort Lewis lands at the 32nd percentile for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a figure built from its 3,160 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)

USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Fort Lewis at the 34th percentile, close to its 32nd-percentile risk score.

Where Fort Lewis's buildings actually sit

3,160Total buildings
3%Direct exposure
64%Indirect exposure
33%Minimal exposure

Most of Fort Lewis's buildings (64%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.

Where Fort Lewis ranks

Fort Lewis's 52nd-percentile standing inside Washington outpaces its 32nd national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Fort Lewis ranks 21,353 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,217 by building count (1 is largest). Within Washington alone, it ranks 305 of 628 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Washington on its state page.

Shopping for coverage in Fort Lewis

Fort Lewis's moderate rating (32nd percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.

Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it

With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Fort Lewis (64% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.

Where Fort Lewis's figures come from

Every one of the two percentiles behind Fort Lewis's 21,353-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Fort Lewis's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.