Nanwalek, AK
Nanwalek, AK's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Nanwalek at the 13th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 75 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 Nanwalek at the 13th percentile, close to its 13th-percentile risk score.
Nanwalek's building exposure, zone by zone
Direct exposure dominates in Nanwalek: 92% of its 75 buildings, versus 6.7% Indirect and 1.3% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
How Nanwalek compares
Nanwalek's risk sits at a similar level relative to Alaska (18th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (13th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Nanwalek ranks 27,471 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 30,069 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alaska alone, it ranks 264 of 322 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alaska on its state page.
Nanwalek and the insurance market
At the 13th national percentile, Nanwalek rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Nanwalek's 92% 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
Nanwalek's 13th-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 Nanwalek, see the exposure-zones guide.