Independence, UT
Independence, UT's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Independence lands at the 94th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 118 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Independence at the 92nd national percentile — 3 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Of Independence's 118 counted buildings, 93.2% 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.
Where Independence ranks
Independence ranks lower within Utah (77th percentile statewide) than its 94th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Independence ranks 1,808 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 28,279 by building count (1 is largest). Within Utah alone, it ranks 76 of 326 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Utah on its state page.
Independence and the insurance market
Independence's 94th-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.
Hardening a home in Independence
Independence's 93.2% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Independence's 1,808-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Independence, see the exposure-zones guide.