Kershaw, SC
Kershaw, SC's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Kershaw at the 71st national percentile for risk to structures, well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a score built from 1,146 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Kershaw's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 73rd percentile nationally.
Kershaw's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Kershaw's buildings (65.3%) 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.
How Kershaw compares
Kershaw scores 71st nationally and 61st within South Carolina — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Kershaw ranks 9,212 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 10,987 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Carolina alone, it ranks 186 of 474 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Carolina on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Kershaw
At the 71st percentile nationally, Kershaw carries the 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
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Kershaw (65.3% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Kershaw's 71st-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Kershaw, see the exposure-zones guide.