Goldendale, WA
Goldendale, WA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Goldendale at the 91st national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 2,044 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Goldendale at the 92nd percentile, close to its 91st-percentile risk score.
Where Goldendale's buildings actually sit
75.3% of Goldendale's 2,044 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 20.8% Direct and 3.9% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Where Goldendale ranks
Goldendale's risk sits at a similar level relative to Washington (81st percentile statewide) as it does nationally (91st) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Goldendale ranks 2,945 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 7,346 by building count (1 is largest). Within Washington alone, it ranks 119 of 628 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Washington on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 91st percentile nationally, Goldendale carries the very high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Goldendale (75.3% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Goldendale's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Goldendale's 2,945-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Goldendale's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.