Kealakekua, HI
Kealakekua wildfire risk explained
Kealakekua's 1,075 buildings earn a 89th-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.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Kealakekua at the 85th percentile, close to its 89th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
59.5% of Kealakekua's 1,075 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 640 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 40.5% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
Kealakekua against the rest of the country
Inside Hawaii, Kealakekua sits at just the 39th percentile even though it scores 89th nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Kealakekua ranks 3,587 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,430 by building count (1 is largest). Within Hawaii alone, it ranks 100 of 163 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Hawaii on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Kealakekua
At the 89th percentile nationally, Kealakekua carries the very high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Kealakekua (59.5%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Kealakekua's 3,587-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Kealakekua, see the exposure-zones guide.