Red Oak, NC
How exposed is Red Oak to wildfire?
USFS scores Red Oak at the 47th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 2,224 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Red Oak at the 48th national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Red Oak's building exposure, zone by zone
Direct exposure dominates in Red Oak: 94.8% of its 2,224 buildings, versus 5.2% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Where Red Oak ranks
Red Oak's 47th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 32nd ranking inside North Carolina does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 15 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Red Oak ranks 16,583 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 6,877 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Carolina alone, it ranks 523 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
Red Oak's elevated wildfire rating (47th 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.
Hardening a home in Red Oak
With 94.8% of Red Oak 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 2,224 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Red Oak. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Red Oak, see the exposure-zones guide.