Petersburg, VA
Petersburg wildfire risk explained
Petersburg's 14,807 buildings earn a 41st-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Petersburg's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 41st percentile nationally.
Where Petersburg's buildings actually sit
USFS puts 43.5% of Petersburg's 14,807 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 24.7% Direct and 31.8% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to. At 14,807 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Where Petersburg ranks
There's little gap between Petersburg's 41st national percentile and its 36th percentile inside Virginia, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Petersburg ranks 18,548 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 1,002 by building count (1 is largest). Within Virginia alone, it ranks 439 of 681 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Virginia on its state page.
Petersburg and the insurance market
At the 41st national percentile, Petersburg rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Hardening a home in Petersburg
Petersburg's 43.5% 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 14,807 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Petersburg. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Petersburg, see the exposure-zones guide.