Gloucester Courthouse, VA
Gloucester Courthouse wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Gloucester Courthouse at the 53rd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 1,444 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Gloucester Courthouse's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 53rd percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
71% of Gloucester Courthouse's 1,444 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 1,025 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 29% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0.1% are Minimal.
How Gloucester Courthouse compares
Gloucester Courthouse's risk sits at a similar level relative to Virginia (57th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (53rd) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Gloucester Courthouse ranks 14,986 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,415 by building count (1 is largest). Within Virginia alone, it ranks 292 of 681 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Virginia on its state page.
Gloucester Courthouse and the insurance market
At the 53rd national percentile, Gloucester Courthouse rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
With 71% of Gloucester Courthouse in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Gloucester Courthouse's 14,986-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Gloucester Courthouse, see the exposure-zones guide.