Hazard, KY
How exposed is Hazard to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Hazard lands at the 93rd percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 2,401 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Hazard at the 95th national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS puts 80% of Hazard's 2,401 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 20% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Hazard against the rest of the country
Hazard scores 93rd nationally and 96th within Kentucky — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Hazard ranks 2,365 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 6,507 by building count (1 is largest). Within Kentucky alone, it ranks 25 of 552 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Kentucky on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Hazard's 93rd-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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Hazard (80% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Hazard's 93rd-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 Hazard, see the exposure-zones guide.