Madison, AL
Madison, AL's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Madison at the 24th national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 19,288 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Madison at the 27th national percentile — 3 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Madison's buildings actually sit
Most of Madison's buildings (63.5% of 19,288) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure. At 19,288 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
How Madison compares
Madison ranks lower within Alabama (1st percentile statewide) than its 24th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Madison ranks 23,846 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 736 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alabama alone, it ranks 585 of 592 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alabama on its state page.
Madison and the insurance market
At the 24th national percentile, Madison rates moderate for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
Madison's 63.5% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
Where Madison's figures come from
Madison's 24th-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 Madison's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.