North Yelm, WA
North Yelm wildfire risk explained
North Yelm sits at the 27th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 1,575 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks North Yelm at the 30th national percentile — 3 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
North Yelm's building exposure, zone by zone
1,575 buildings are counted in North Yelm, and 70.5% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 29.5% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
How North Yelm compares
North Yelm's 45th-percentile standing inside Washington outpaces its 27th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, North Yelm ranks 23,083 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,862 by building count (1 is largest). Within Washington alone, it ranks 348 of 628 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Washington on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in North Yelm
At the 27th national percentile, North Yelm rates moderate for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Hardening a home in North Yelm
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in North Yelm (70.5% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind North Yelm's 23,083-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 Yelm, see the exposure-zones guide.