Lavalette, WV
Lavalette wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Lavalette lands at the 68th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 652 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Lavalette at the 71st national percentile — 3 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 55.2% of Lavalette's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 44.8% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 360 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
How Lavalette compares
Lavalette's risk sits at a similar level relative to West Virginia (61st percentile statewide) as it does nationally (68th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Lavalette ranks 10,166 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 15,187 by building count (1 is largest). Within West Virginia alone, it ranks 168 of 429 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for West Virginia on its state page.
Lavalette and the insurance market
Lavalette's 68th-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.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Lavalette (55.2%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Lavalette's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Lavalette's 10,166-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Lavalette's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.