Grass Valley, OR
Grass Valley wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Grass Valley at the 97th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally), a figure built from 187 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Grass Valley at the 97th national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
44.9% of Grass Valley's 187 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 84 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 16% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 39% are Minimal.
Where Grass Valley ranks
There's little gap between Grass Valley's 97th national percentile and its 88th percentile inside Oregon, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Grass Valley ranks 1,019 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 25,364 by building count (1 is largest). Within Oregon alone, it ranks 49 of 420 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Oregon on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Because Grass Valley is in Oregon, a wildfire-hazard disclosure is legally required before a sale closes here — unusual nationally, since only these two states mandate it. Full detail in the disclosure-law guide.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Grass Valley (44.9%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Grass Valley's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Grass Valley's 1,019-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Grass Valley's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.