Pumpkin Center, NC
Pumpkin Center, NC's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Pumpkin Center lands at the 66th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 932 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Pumpkin Center at the 66th national percentile — 0 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
63.7% of Pumpkin Center's 932 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 594 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 32.7% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 3.5% are Minimal.
How Pumpkin Center compares
Pumpkin Center scores 66th nationally and 66th within North Carolina — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Pumpkin Center ranks 10,780 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 12,457 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Carolina alone, it ranks 264 of 772 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Carolina on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Pumpkin Center's 66th-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.
Hardening a home in Pumpkin Center
With 63.7% of Pumpkin Center in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 932 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Pumpkin Center. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Pumpkin Center, see the exposure-zones guide.