Sistersville, WV
Sistersville, WV's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Sistersville sits at the 40th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 786 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Sistersville's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 41st percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS puts 85.4% of Sistersville's 786 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 14.4% Direct and 0.3% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Sistersville against the rest of the country
Inside West Virginia, Sistersville sits at just the 15th percentile even though it scores 40th nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Sistersville ranks 18,896 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,761 by building count (1 is largest). Within West Virginia alone, it ranks 366 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
Sistersville's elevated rating (40th 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 Sistersville
Sistersville's 85.4% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Sistersville's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Sistersville's 18,896-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Sistersville's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.