Hardwick, GA
Hardwick wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Hardwick at the 68th national percentile for risk to structures, well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a score built from 1,921 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 Hardwick at the 70th percentile, close to its 68th-percentile risk score.
Where Hardwick's buildings actually sit
1,921 buildings are counted in Hardwick, and 72.9% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 12.8% rated Minimal.
Where Hardwick ranks
Hardwick scores 68th nationally and 57th within Georgia — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Hardwick ranks 10,143 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 7,704 by building count (1 is largest). Within Georgia alone, it ranks 287 of 669 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Georgia on its state page.
Hardwick and the insurance market
Hardwick's 68th-percentile, 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 Hardwick
Because Direct exposure dominates in Hardwick (72.9%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Hardwick's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Hardwick's 10,143-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Hardwick's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.