Garden City, AL
How exposed is Garden City to wildfire?
Garden City's 380 buildings earn a 73rd-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — well above the national norm for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Garden City at the 76th percentile, close to its 73rd-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 74.5% of Garden City's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 25.5% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 283 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
How Garden City compares
Garden City ranks lower within Alabama (53rd percentile statewide) than its 73rd national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Garden City ranks 8,559 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 19,637 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alabama alone, it ranks 277 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
Garden City's 73rd-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Hardening a home in Garden City
Because Direct exposure dominates in Garden City (74.5%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Garden City's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 380 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Garden City. The exposure-zones guide covers what Garden City's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.