Kistler, WV
Kistler, WV's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Kistler lands at the 97th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 237 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Kistler at the 98th percentile, close to its 97th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 52.3% of Kistler's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 47.7% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 124 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
How Kistler compares
There's little gap between Kistler's 97th national percentile and its 100th percentile inside West Virginia, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Kistler ranks 1,088 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 23,582 by building count (1 is largest). Within West Virginia alone, it ranks 2 of 429 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for West Virginia on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 97th percentile nationally, Kistler 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.
Hardening a home in Kistler
Because Direct exposure dominates in Kistler (52.3%), 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 Kistler's 1,088-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Kistler, see the exposure-zones guide.