Malcolm, AL
How exposed is Malcolm to wildfire?
Malcolm's 148 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 Malcolm at the 88th national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Malcolm's building exposure, zone by zone
100% of Malcolm's 148 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 148 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 0% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
How Malcolm compares
There's little gap between Malcolm's 86th national percentile and its 89th percentile inside Alabama, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Malcolm ranks 4,557 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 26,937 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alabama alone, it ranks 64 of 592 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alabama on its state page.
Malcolm and the insurance market
Malcolm'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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 100% of Malcolm 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.
Where Malcolm's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Malcolm's 4,557-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Malcolm's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.