Pateros, WA
Pateros, WA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Pateros's 385 buildings earn a 98th-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.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Pateros at the 98th national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
82.9% of Pateros's 385 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 15.3% Direct and 1.8% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
How Pateros compares
There's little gap between Pateros's 98th national percentile and its 94th percentile inside Washington, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Pateros ranks 804 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 19,534 by building count (1 is largest). Within Washington alone, it ranks 37 of 628 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Washington on its state page.
Pateros and the insurance market
At the 98th percentile nationally, Pateros 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 Pateros
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Pateros (82.9% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Pateros's figures come from
Pateros's 98th-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 Pateros's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.