Slidell, LA
Slidell, LA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Slidell sits at the 90th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 11,377 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Slidell at the 91st national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Slidell's building exposure, zone by zone
56.8% of Slidell's 11,377 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 21% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself. At 11,377 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Where Slidell ranks
Slidell's risk sits at a similar level relative to Louisiana (99th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (90th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Slidell ranks 3,055 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 1,390 by building count (1 is largest). Within Louisiana alone, it ranks 6 of 488 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Louisiana on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Slidell's 90th-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 Slidell
Even with 56.8% of Slidell outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 11,377 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Slidell. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Slidell, see the exposure-zones guide.