Kenly, NC
Kenly wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Kenly at the 40th national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 1,000 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Kenly at the 37th national percentile — 2 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Kenly's building exposure, zone by zone
Of Kenly's 1,000 counted buildings, 47.9% carry Direct exposure and only 40.9% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Kenly against the rest of the country
Kenly's 40th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 15th ranking inside North Carolina does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 25 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Kenly ranks 19,075 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,935 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Carolina alone, it ranks 659 of 772 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Carolina on its state page.
Kenly and the insurance market
At the 40th national percentile, Kenly rates moderate for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
Kenly's 47.9% 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.
Where Kenly's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,000 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Kenly. The exposure-zones guide covers what Kenly's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.