Gulf Shores, AL
How exposed is Gulf Shores to wildfire?
Gulf Shores's 7,397 buildings earn a 92nd-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Gulf Shores at the 91st percentile, close to its 92nd-percentile risk score.
Gulf Shores's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Gulf Shores's buildings (66.7%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone. At 7,397 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Where Gulf Shores ranks
Gulf Shores's risk sits at a similar level relative to Alabama (100th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (92nd) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Gulf Shores ranks 2,381 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 2,305 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alabama alone, it ranks 4 of 592 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alabama on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Gulf Shores
At the 92nd percentile nationally, Gulf Shores 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Gulf Shores (66.7% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Gulf Shores's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 7,397 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Gulf Shores. The exposure-zones guide covers what Gulf Shores's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.