Kapaa, HI
How exposed is Kapaa to wildfire?
Kapaa's 4,036 buildings earn a 96th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Kapaa's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 94th percentile nationally.
Kapaa's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Kapaa's buildings (62.3%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
Where Kapaa ranks
Kapaa's risk sits at a similar level relative to Hawaii (82nd percentile statewide) as it does nationally (96th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Kapaa ranks 1,317 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,207 by building count (1 is largest). Within Hawaii alone, it ranks 29 of 163 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Hawaii on its state page.
Kapaa and the insurance market
Kapaa's very high rating (96th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Hardening a home in Kapaa
Because 62.3% of Kapaa's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Kapaa's figures come from
Kapaa's 96th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Kapaa's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.