Modest Town, VA
How exposed is Modest Town to wildfire?
USFS scores Modest Town at the 59th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 125 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Modest Town at the 53rd national percentile — 6 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 53.6% of Modest Town's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 46.4% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 67 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
Where Modest Town ranks
Modest Town's risk sits at a similar level relative to Virginia (66th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (59th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Modest Town ranks 12,937 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 27,967 by building count (1 is largest). Within Virginia alone, it ranks 235 of 681 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Virginia on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Modest Town
Modest Town's elevated wildfire rating (59th 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 53.6% of Modest Town 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.
Where Modest Town's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Modest Town's 12,937-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Modest Town's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.