Rich Creek, VA
How exposed is Rich Creek to wildfire?
Rich Creek sits at the 65th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 360 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Rich Creek at the 65th percentile, close to its 65th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Rich Creek's buildings (74.4%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
How Rich Creek compares
There's little gap between Rich Creek's 65th national percentile and its 76th percentile inside Virginia, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Rich Creek ranks 11,079 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 20,073 by building count (1 is largest). Within Virginia alone, it ranks 167 of 681 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Virginia on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Rich Creek's high rating (65th 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.
Hardening a home in Rich Creek
Rich Creek's 74.4% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Rich Creek's figures come from
Rich Creek's 65th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Rich Creek's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.