Grand Coulee, WA
How exposed is Grand Coulee to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Grand Coulee at the 97th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 748 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 Grand Coulee at the 97th percentile, close to its 97th-percentile risk score.
Where Grand Coulee's buildings actually sit
Indirect exposure is dominant in Grand Coulee (88.5% of 748 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 11.5% sit in the Direct zone.
Where Grand Coulee ranks
Grand Coulee scores 97th nationally and 91st within Washington — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Grand Coulee ranks 1,116 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 14,146 by building count (1 is largest). Within Washington alone, it ranks 56 of 628 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Washington on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Grand Coulee
Grand Coulee's 97th-percentile, very 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Grand Coulee (88.5% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Grand Coulee's figures come from
Grand Coulee's 97th-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 Grand Coulee's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.