Fultondale, AL
How exposed is Fultondale to wildfire?
Fultondale sits at the 70th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 3,932 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Fultondale at the 73rd national percentile — 3 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Fultondale's building exposure, zone by zone
Of Fultondale's 3,932 counted buildings, 55.4% carry Direct exposure and only 0.5% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Where Fultondale ranks
Inside Alabama, Fultondale sits at just the 45th percentile even though it scores 70th nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Fultondale ranks 9,571 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,305 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alabama alone, it ranks 327 of 592 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alabama on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Fultondale's high rating (70th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Hardening a home in Fultondale
Because Direct exposure dominates in Fultondale (55.4%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Fultondale's figures come from
Fultondale's 70th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Fultondale's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.