Handley, WV
Handley, WV's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Handley at the 90th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally), a figure built from 154 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Handley at the 91st percentile, close to its 90th-percentile risk score.
Where Handley's buildings actually sit
154 buildings are counted in Handley, and 57.8% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 41.6% in Direct exposure or the 0.7% rated Minimal.
Where Handley ranks
There's little gap between Handley's 90th national percentile and its 81st percentile inside West Virginia, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Handley ranks 3,231 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 26,730 by building count (1 is largest). Within West Virginia alone, it ranks 83 of 429 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for West Virginia on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Handley's 90th-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.
Hardening a home in Handley
Handley's 57.8% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 154 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Handley. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Handley, see the exposure-zones guide.