Ridgeway, VA
How exposed is Ridgeway to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Ridgeway lands at the 35th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a figure built from its 395 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Ridgeway at the 37th national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Ridgeway's building exposure, zone by zone
Of Ridgeway's 395 counted buildings, 85.3% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
How Ridgeway compares
There's little gap between Ridgeway's 35th national percentile and its 25th percentile inside Virginia, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Ridgeway ranks 20,534 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 19,323 by building count (1 is largest). Within Virginia alone, it ranks 514 of 681 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Virginia on its state page.
Ridgeway and the insurance market
At the 35th national percentile, Ridgeway rates moderate for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
With 85.3% of Ridgeway 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.
Where Ridgeway's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Ridgeway's 20,534-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Ridgeway's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.