Harlan, KY
Harlan, KY's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Harlan sits at the 89th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 850 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Harlan's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 91st percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Indirect exposure is dominant in Harlan (70.7% of 850 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 29.3% sit in the Direct zone.
Where Harlan ranks
There's little gap between Harlan's 89th national percentile and its 89th percentile inside Kentucky, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Harlan ranks 3,469 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,156 by building count (1 is largest). Within Kentucky alone, it ranks 62 of 552 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Kentucky on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Harlan
Harlan's 89th-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 Harlan
Harlan's 70.7% 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
Harlan's 89th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Harlan, see the exposure-zones guide.