Motley, VA
Motley wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Motley at the 48th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 629 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Motley at the 50th percentile, close to its 48th-percentile risk score.
Motley's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS classifies 88.9% of Motley's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 11.1% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 559 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
How Motley compares
Motley scores 48th nationally and 50th within Virginia — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Motley ranks 16,311 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 15,464 by building count (1 is largest). Within Virginia alone, it ranks 341 of 681 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Virginia on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Motley's elevated rating (48th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in Motley
Motley's 88.9% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
More on how this number was built
Motley's 48th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Motley, see the exposure-zones guide.