Pheba, MS
How exposed is Pheba to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Pheba at the 63rd national percentile for risk to structures, well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a score built from 188 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Pheba at the 67th percentile, close to its 63rd-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Of Pheba's 188 counted buildings, 98.9% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Where Pheba ranks
Pheba's 63rd national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 41st ranking inside Mississippi does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 23 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Pheba ranks 11,535 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 25,320 by building count (1 is largest). Within Mississippi alone, it ranks 249 of 420 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Mississippi on its state page.
Pheba and the insurance market
At the 63rd percentile nationally, Pheba 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Pheba's 98.9% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 188 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Pheba. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Pheba, see the exposure-zones guide.