Salem, WV
How exposed is Salem to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Salem at the 42nd national percentile for risk to structures, modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a score built from 750 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Salem at the 42nd percentile, close to its 42nd-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Salem's buildings (62.1%) 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.
Salem against the rest of the country
Salem's 42nd national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 20th ranking inside West Virginia does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 22 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Salem ranks 18,264 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 14,129 by building count (1 is largest). Within West Virginia alone, it ranks 343 of 429 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for West Virginia on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Salem's elevated rating (42nd percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in Salem
Because 62.1% of Salem's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Salem's 42nd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Salem, see the exposure-zones guide.