Marathon, TX
Marathon wildfire risk explained
Marathon's 698 buildings earn a 97th-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.)
Separately from the risk score above, Marathon's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 97th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Indirect exposure is dominant in Marathon (53% of 698 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 47% sit in the Direct zone.
How Marathon compares
Marathon scores 97th nationally and 97th within Texas — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Marathon ranks 1,112 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 14,683 by building count (1 is largest). Within Texas alone, it ranks 53 of 1,795 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Texas on its state page.
Marathon and the insurance market
Marathon's very high rating (97th 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
Marathon's 53% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Marathon's 97th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Marathon, see the exposure-zones guide.