Kailua (Hawaii), HI
How exposed is Kailua (Hawaii) to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Kailua (Hawaii) at the 83rd national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 5,784 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Kailua (Hawaii) at the 80th national percentile — 3 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Kailua (Hawaii)'s buildings actually sit
60% of Kailua (Hawaii)'s 5,784 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 18.7% Direct and 21.3% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone. At 5,784 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Where Kailua (Hawaii) ranks
Kailua (Hawaii)'s 83rd national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 13th ranking inside Hawaii does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 70 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Kailua (Hawaii) ranks 5,293 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 2,990 by building count (1 is largest). Within Hawaii alone, it ranks 142 of 163 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Hawaii on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Kailua (Hawaii)'s 83rd-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 Kailua (Hawaii)
Kailua (Hawaii)'s 60% 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.
Where Kailua (Hawaii)'s figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 5,784 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Kailua (Hawaii). The exposure-zones guide covers what Kailua (Hawaii)'s dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.