Parkersburg, WV
How exposed is Parkersburg to wildfire?
Parkersburg sits at the 32nd percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 15,484 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Parkersburg at the 34th percentile, close to its 32nd-percentile risk score.
Parkersburg's building exposure, zone by zone
69.9% of Parkersburg's 15,484 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 6.3% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself. At 15,484 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
How Parkersburg compares
Parkersburg ranks lower within West Virginia (2nd percentile statewide) than its 32nd national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Parkersburg ranks 21,446 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 954 by building count (1 is largest). Within West Virginia alone, it ranks 422 of 429 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for West Virginia on its state page.
Parkersburg and the insurance market
Parkersburg's moderate rating (32nd 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 Parkersburg
With 69.9% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Parkersburg gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
More on how this number was built
Parkersburg's 32nd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Parkersburg, see the exposure-zones guide.