Red Bay, AL
Red Bay wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Red Bay lands at the 62nd percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 2,038 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Red Bay at the 64th national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Red Bay's building exposure, zone by zone
2,038 buildings are counted in Red Bay, and 51.8% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 0% rated Minimal.
Where Red Bay ranks
Inside Alabama, Red Bay sits at just the 30th percentile even though it scores 62nd nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Red Bay ranks 11,933 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 7,358 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alabama alone, it ranks 413 of 592 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alabama on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Red Bay
Red Bay's high rating (62nd percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because Direct exposure dominates in Red Bay (51.8%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Red Bay's 62nd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Red Bay, see the exposure-zones guide.