New Augusta, MS
How exposed is New Augusta to wildfire?
New Augusta sits at the 88th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 441 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, New Augusta's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 90th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
441 buildings are counted in New Augusta, and 77.3% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 0% rated Minimal.
New Augusta against the rest of the country
New Augusta's risk sits at a similar level relative to Mississippi (91st percentile statewide) as it does nationally (88th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, New Augusta ranks 3,848 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 18,438 by building count (1 is largest). Within Mississippi alone, it ranks 39 of 420 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Mississippi on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
New Augusta's 88th-percentile, very 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 New Augusta (77.3%), 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
Every one of the two percentiles behind New Augusta's 3,848-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond New Augusta, see the exposure-zones guide.