Fountain, NC
Fountain, NC's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Fountain at the 48th national percentile for risk to structures, modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a score built from 281 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Fountain at the 47th national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Indirect exposure is dominant in Fountain (63.7% of 281 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 36.3% sit in the Direct zone.
How Fountain compares
Fountain scores 48th nationally and 33rd within North Carolina — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Fountain ranks 16,490 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 22,159 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Carolina alone, it ranks 518 of 772 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Carolina on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Fountain's elevated wildfire rating (48th 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 Fountain
Because 63.7% of Fountain'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.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 281 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Fountain. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Fountain, see the exposure-zones guide.