Scotland, VA
Scotland wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Scotland at the 51st national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 234 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Scotland at the 51st percentile, close to its 51st-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 89.3% of Scotland's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 5.6% Indirect share and far above its 5.1% Minimal share — a profile where 209 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
How Scotland compares
There's little gap between Scotland's 51st national percentile and its 55th percentile inside Virginia, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Scotland ranks 15,364 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 23,690 by building count (1 is largest). Within Virginia alone, it ranks 306 of 681 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Virginia on its state page.
Scotland and the insurance market
Scotland's elevated rating (51st percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
With 89.3% of Scotland 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
Scotland's 51st-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 Scotland, see the exposure-zones guide.