Okanogan, WA
How exposed is Okanogan to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Okanogan lands at the 98th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 1,387 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Okanogan's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 98th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Indirect exposure is dominant in Okanogan (88.2% of 1,387 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 11.8% sit in the Direct zone.
Okanogan against the rest of the country
Okanogan scores 98th nationally and 94th within Washington — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Okanogan ranks 803 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,685 by building count (1 is largest). Within Washington alone, it ranks 36 of 628 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Washington on its state page.
Okanogan and the insurance market
Okanogan's 98th-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 88.2% of Okanogan's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Okanogan's 98th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Okanogan, see the exposure-zones guide.