Rye, CO
Rye wildfire risk explained
Rye sits at the 93rd percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 148 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Rye at the 89th national percentile — 4 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
53.4% of Rye's 148 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 79 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 46.6% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
Where Rye ranks
There's little gap between Rye's 93rd national percentile and its 80th percentile inside Colorado, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Rye ranks 2,357 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 26,944 by building count (1 is largest). Within Colorado alone, it ranks 94 of 472 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Colorado on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Rye
Rye's very high rating (93rd 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.
What would actually reduce this score
With 53.4% of Rye 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
Rye's 93rd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Rye, see the exposure-zones guide.