Peterstown, WV
Peterstown, WV's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Peterstown's 355 buildings earn a 64th-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, Peterstown's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 65th percentile nationally.
Peterstown's building exposure, zone by zone
355 buildings are counted in Peterstown, and 96.6% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 3.4% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
Where Peterstown ranks
Peterstown's risk sits at a similar level relative to West Virginia (55th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (64th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Peterstown ranks 11,458 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 20,208 by building count (1 is largest). Within West Virginia alone, it ranks 195 of 429 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for West Virginia on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Peterstown
Peterstown's 64th-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because 96.6% of Peterstown's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Peterstown's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 355 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Peterstown. The exposure-zones guide covers what Peterstown's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.