Paris, KY
How exposed is Paris to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Paris at the 25th national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 4,632 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Paris at the 27th national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Paris's buildings actually sit
USFS puts 86% of Paris's 4,632 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 14.1% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
How Paris compares
Paris's 47th-percentile standing inside Kentucky outpaces its 25th 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, Paris ranks 23,568 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,671 by building count (1 is largest). Within Kentucky alone, it ranks 291 of 552 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Kentucky on its state page.
Paris and the insurance market
Paris's moderate rating (25th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in Paris
Paris's 86% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Paris's figures come from
Paris's 25th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Paris's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.