Pelham, AL
How exposed is Pelham to wildfire?
Pelham's 10,095 buildings earn a 71st-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — well above the national norm for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Pelham's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 74th percentile nationally.
Pelham's building exposure, zone by zone
44.8% of Pelham's 10,095 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 41.3% Direct and 13.8% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone. At 10,095 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
How Pelham compares
Inside Alabama, Pelham sits at just the 50th percentile even though it scores 71st 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, Pelham ranks 9,033 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 1,588 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alabama alone, it ranks 299 of 592 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alabama on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Pelham
At the 71st percentile nationally, Pelham carries the 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.
What would actually reduce this score
Pelham's 44.8% 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.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 10,095 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Pelham. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Pelham, see the exposure-zones guide.