Hytop, AL
Hytop, AL's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Hytop lands at the 71st percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 355 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Hytop at the 74th percentile, close to its 71st-percentile risk score.
Hytop's building exposure, zone by zone
99.2% of Hytop's 355 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 352 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 0.9% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
Where Hytop ranks
Hytop ranks lower within Alabama (48th percentile statewide) than its 71st national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Hytop ranks 9,286 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 20,177 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alabama alone, it ranks 312 of 592 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alabama on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Hytop
Hytop's 71st-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 99.2% of Hytop 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.
Where Hytop's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 355 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Hytop. The exposure-zones guide covers what Hytop's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.