Saraland, AL
Saraland wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Saraland lands at the 89th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 7,560 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Saraland at the 91st national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Of Saraland's 7,560 counted buildings, 76.2% 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. At 7,560 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Where Saraland ranks
Saraland's risk sits at a similar level relative to Alabama (96th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (89th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Saraland ranks 3,360 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 2,263 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alabama alone, it ranks 22 of 592 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alabama on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Saraland
Saraland'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.
Hardening a home in Saraland
With 76.2% of Saraland 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
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 7,560 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Saraland. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Saraland, see the exposure-zones guide.