Melbourne, KY
Melbourne, KY's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Melbourne's 289 buildings earn a 17th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Melbourne at the 18th national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Melbourne's building exposure, zone by zone
Of Melbourne's 289 counted buildings, 92.4% carry Direct exposure and only 0.4% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Where Melbourne ranks
Melbourne scores 17th nationally and 27th within Kentucky — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Melbourne ranks 26,278 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 21,941 by building count (1 is largest). Within Kentucky alone, it ranks 402 of 552 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Kentucky on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Melbourne's low wildfire rating (17th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
What would actually reduce this score
With 92.4% of Melbourne 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
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 289 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Melbourne. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Melbourne, see the exposure-zones guide.