Mena, AR
Mena, AR's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Mena sits at the 79th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 3,642 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Mena's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 83rd percentile nationally.
Mena's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Mena's buildings (64.6%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
How Mena compares
Mena scores 79th nationally and 78th within Arkansas — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Mena ranks 6,515 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,598 by building count (1 is largest). Within Arkansas alone, it ranks 135 of 614 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Arkansas on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Mena's 79th-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Hardening a home in Mena
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Mena (64.6% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 3,642 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Mena. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Mena, see the exposure-zones guide.