Rio Chiquito, NM
How exposed is Rio Chiquito to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Rio Chiquito at the 89th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 184 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Rio Chiquito's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 85th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
96.7% of Rio Chiquito's 184 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 178 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 3.3% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
How Rio Chiquito compares
Rio Chiquito ranks lower within New Mexico (72nd percentile statewide) than its 89th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Rio Chiquito ranks 3,439 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 25,477 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Mexico alone, it ranks 138 of 495 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Mexico on its state page.
Rio Chiquito and the insurance market
Rio Chiquito's 89th-percentile, very 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 96.7% of Rio Chiquito 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 Rio Chiquito's figures come from
Rio Chiquito's 89th-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 Rio Chiquito's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.