Pinetops, NC
Pinetops, NC's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Pinetops lands at the 46th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 735 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Pinetops's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 45th percentile nationally.
Pinetops's building exposure, zone by zone
735 buildings are counted in Pinetops, and 55.4% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 44.6% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
How Pinetops compares
Pinetops's 46th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 27th ranking inside North Carolina does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 19 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Pinetops ranks 17,184 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 14,279 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Carolina alone, it ranks 566 of 772 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Carolina on its state page.
Pinetops and the insurance market
Pinetops's elevated wildfire rating (46th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Pinetops (55.4% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Pinetops's 46th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Pinetops, see the exposure-zones guide.