Poteau, OK
Poteau wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Poteau at the 94th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 4,751 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Poteau at the 96th national percentile — 3 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
4,751 buildings are counted in Poteau, and 64.2% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 35.6% in Direct exposure or the 0.2% rated Minimal.
Poteau against the rest of the country
Poteau's 94th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 70th ranking inside Oklahoma does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 23 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Poteau ranks 1,990 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,592 by building count (1 is largest). Within Oklahoma alone, it ranks 249 of 834 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Oklahoma on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Poteau
At the 94th percentile nationally, Poteau carries the very 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
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Poteau (64.2% 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
Poteau's 94th-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 Poteau, see the exposure-zones guide.