Paia, HI
Paia, HI's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Paia's 854 buildings earn a 89th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Paia's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 84th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS puts 81.5% of Paia's 854 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 18% Direct and 0.5% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Where Paia ranks
Inside Hawaii, Paia sits at just the 41st percentile even though it scores 89th nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Paia ranks 3,370 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,133 by building count (1 is largest). Within Hawaii alone, it ranks 96 of 163 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Hawaii on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Paia
At the 89th percentile nationally, Paia 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.
Hardening a home in Paia
Because 81.5% of Paia'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
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 854 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Paia. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Paia, see the exposure-zones guide.