Harpersville, AL
How exposed is Harpersville to wildfire?
USFS scores Harpersville at the 78th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (well above the national norm for wildfire risk), a figure built from 1,251 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Harpersville's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 82nd percentile nationally.
Where Harpersville's buildings actually sit
Of Harpersville's 1,251 counted buildings, 89.3% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
How Harpersville compares
There's little gap between Harpersville's 78th national percentile and its 70th percentile inside Alabama, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Harpersville ranks 6,920 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 10,342 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alabama alone, it ranks 181 of 592 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alabama on its state page.
Harpersville and the insurance market
At the 78th percentile nationally, Harpersville carries the 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.
What would actually reduce this score
With 89.3% of Harpersville in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Harpersville's 78th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Harpersville, see the exposure-zones guide.