Kilgore, TX
Kilgore wildfire risk explained
Kilgore sits at the 69th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 7,157 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Kilgore at the 70th percentile, close to its 69th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Indirect exposure is dominant in Kilgore (59.4% of 7,157 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 11.8% sit in the Direct zone. At 7,157 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Kilgore against the rest of the country
Kilgore ranks lower within Texas (29th percentile statewide) than its 69th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Kilgore ranks 9,688 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 2,395 by building count (1 is largest). Within Texas alone, it ranks 1,268 of 1,795 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Texas on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Kilgore
Kilgore's 69th-percentile, 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Kilgore's 59.4% 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 Kilgore's figures come from
Kilgore's 69th-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 Kilgore's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.