Montevallo, AL
Montevallo, AL's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Montevallo at the 75th national percentile for risk to structures, well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a score built from 2,728 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Montevallo's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 78th percentile nationally.
Montevallo's building exposure, zone by zone
Of Montevallo's 2,728 counted buildings, 62.4% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Montevallo against the rest of the country
Montevallo's 75th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 57th ranking inside Alabama does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 18 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Montevallo ranks 8,024 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,885 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alabama alone, it ranks 254 of 592 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alabama on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Montevallo's 75th-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.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Montevallo (62.4%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 2,728 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Montevallo. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Montevallo, see the exposure-zones guide.