Lucedale, MS
Lucedale wildfire risk explained
Lucedale's 1,441 buildings earn a 86th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Lucedale at the 89th national percentile — 2 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 64% of Lucedale's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 36% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 922 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
Where Lucedale ranks
Lucedale's risk sits at a similar level relative to Mississippi (90th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (86th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Lucedale ranks 4,284 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,423 by building count (1 is largest). Within Mississippi alone, it ranks 43 of 420 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Mississippi on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Lucedale
Lucedale's very high rating (86th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
What would actually reduce this score
With 64% of Lucedale in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Lucedale's 4,284-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Lucedale, see the exposure-zones guide.