Hometown, WV
How exposed is Hometown to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Hometown lands at the 65th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 384 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Hometown at the 65th national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Hometown's buildings actually sit
Indirect exposure is dominant in Hometown (85.9% of 384 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 10.4% sit in the Direct zone.
Hometown against the rest of the country
Hometown scores 65th nationally and 57th within West Virginia — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Hometown ranks 11,046 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 19,553 by building count (1 is largest). Within West Virginia alone, it ranks 182 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
Hometown's 65th-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 Hometown
Hometown's 85.9% 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
Hometown's 65th-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 Hometown, see the exposure-zones guide.