Sand Rock, AL
How exposed is Sand Rock to wildfire?
Sand Rock's 587 buildings earn a 82nd-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Sand Rock at the 86th percentile, close to its 82nd-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Direct exposure dominates in Sand Rock: 92.8% of its 587 buildings, versus 7.2% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Sand Rock against the rest of the country
Sand Rock scores 82nd nationally and 82nd within Alabama — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Sand Rock ranks 5,629 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 15,996 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alabama alone, it ranks 106 of 592 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alabama on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Sand Rock
Sand Rock's 82nd-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.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Sand Rock (92.8%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Sand Rock's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 587 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Sand Rock. The exposure-zones guide covers what Sand Rock's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.