Melville, RI
Melville wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Melville at the 11th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 724 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Melville's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 10th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Melville's buildings (94.9% of 724) 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.
Where Melville ranks
Melville scores 11th nationally and 26th within Rhode Island — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Melville ranks 28,032 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 14,410 by building count (1 is largest). Within Rhode Island alone, it ranks 27 of 36 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Rhode Island on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Melville
Melville's low wildfire rating (11th 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.
Hardening a home in Melville
With 94.9% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Melville gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
More on how this number was built
Melville's 11th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Melville, see the exposure-zones guide.