Rainelle, WV
Rainelle wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Rainelle at the 62nd national percentile for risk to structures, well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a score built from 917 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Rainelle at the 62nd national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Rainelle's buildings actually sit
USFS puts 88.9% of Rainelle's 917 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 11.1% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Where Rainelle ranks
Rainelle scores 62nd nationally and 53rd within West Virginia — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Rainelle ranks 11,993 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 12,585 by building count (1 is largest). Within West Virginia alone, it ranks 201 of 429 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for West Virginia on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 62nd percentile nationally, Rainelle 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.
Hardening a home in Rainelle
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Rainelle (88.9% 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
Every one of the two percentiles behind Rainelle's 11,993-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Rainelle, see the exposure-zones guide.