Northway, AK
How exposed is Northway to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Northway at the 98th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 160 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Northway at the 98th national percentile — 0 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 93.1% of Northway's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 6.9% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 149 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
How Northway compares
Northway's risk sits at a similar level relative to Alaska (94th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (98th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Northway ranks 617 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 26,418 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alaska alone, it ranks 19 of 322 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alaska on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 98th percentile nationally, Northway carries the very high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
What would actually reduce this score
Northway's 93.1% 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.
Where Northway's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 160 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Northway. The exposure-zones guide covers what Northway's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.