Opal, VA
Opal wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Opal at the 30th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 392 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Opal at the 30th percentile, close to its 30th-percentile risk score.
Opal's building exposure, zone by zone
81.9% of Opal's 392 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 321 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 18.1% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
Opal against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Opal's 30th national percentile and its 19th percentile inside Virginia, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Opal ranks 22,111 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 19,385 by building count (1 is largest). Within Virginia alone, it ranks 550 of 681 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Virginia on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 30th national percentile, Opal rates moderate for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
Opal's 81.9% 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 Opal's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Opal's 22,111-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Opal's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.