North Powder, OR
How exposed is North Powder to wildfire?
North Powder sits at the 86th 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 382 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks North Powder at the 88th national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where North Powder's buildings actually sit
USFS puts 76.2% of North Powder's 382 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 23.8% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Where North Powder ranks
North Powder's 86th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 68th ranking inside Oregon does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 18 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, North Powder ranks 4,421 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 19,604 by building count (1 is largest). Within Oregon alone, it ranks 137 of 420 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Oregon on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Because North Powder is in Oregon, a wildfire-hazard disclosure is legally required before a sale closes here — unusual nationally, since only these two states mandate it. Full detail in the disclosure-law guide.
What would actually reduce this score
North Powder's 76.2% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind North Powder's 4,421-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond North Powder, see the exposure-zones guide.