Howard, GA
Howard, GA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Howard at the 72nd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (well above the national norm for wildfire risk), a figure built from 97 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Howard's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 71st percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
97 buildings are counted in Howard, and 90.7% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 0% rated Minimal.
Howard against the rest of the country
Howard's risk sits at a similar level relative to Georgia (70th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (72nd) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Howard ranks 8,944 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 29,169 by building count (1 is largest). Within Georgia alone, it ranks 201 of 669 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Georgia on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Howard
Howard's 72nd-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.
What would actually reduce this score
With 90.7% of Howard 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
Howard's 72nd-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 Howard, see the exposure-zones guide.