Riesel, TX
Riesel wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Riesel lands at the 74th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 747 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Riesel's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 73rd percentile nationally.
Riesel's building exposure, zone by zone
Of Riesel's 747 counted buildings, 61.5% 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.
Where Riesel ranks
Riesel's 74th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 41st ranking inside Texas does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 32 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Riesel ranks 8,367 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 14,156 by building count (1 is largest). Within Texas alone, it ranks 1,053 of 1,795 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Texas on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Riesel
Riesel's 74th-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Riesel (61.5%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Riesel's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Riesel's 8,367-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Riesel's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.