Fossil, OR
How exposed is Fossil to wildfire?
USFS scores Fossil at the 97th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally), a figure built from 471 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Fossil at the 97th percentile, close to its 97th-percentile risk score.
Where Fossil's buildings actually sit
Indirect exposure is dominant in Fossil (66% of 471 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 34% sit in the Direct zone.
How Fossil compares
Fossil's risk sits at a similar level relative to Oregon (89th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (97th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Fossil ranks 1,018 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 17,858 by building count (1 is largest). Within Oregon alone, it ranks 48 of 420 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Oregon on its state page.
Fossil and the insurance market
Fossil sits in Oregon, one of two states that legally require a wildfire-risk disclosure at sale. Sellers here disclose wildfire-hazard status before closing, the same number this page reports at the 97th national percentile. More on the disclosure law.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Fossil (66% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Fossil's 1,018-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Fossil, see the exposure-zones guide.