Mertzon, TX
How exposed is Mertzon to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Mertzon lands at the 98th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 736 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Mertzon's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 99th percentile nationally.
Mertzon's building exposure, zone by zone
Indirect exposure is dominant in Mertzon (71.1% of 736 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 28.9% sit in the Direct zone.
Where Mertzon ranks
Mertzon's risk sits at a similar level relative to Texas (99th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (98th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Mertzon ranks 583 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 14,266 by building count (1 is largest). Within Texas alone, it ranks 23 of 1,795 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Texas on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Mertzon
Mertzon's very high rating (98th 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
Because 71.1% of Mertzon's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Mertzon's 583-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Mertzon, see the exposure-zones guide.