Smithers, WV
Smithers, WV's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Smithers at the 92nd national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 454 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Smithers at the 93rd percentile, close to its 92nd-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Smithers's buildings (87%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
Where Smithers ranks
There's little gap between Smithers's 92nd national percentile and its 87th percentile inside West Virginia, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Smithers ranks 2,538 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 18,204 by building count (1 is largest). Within West Virginia alone, it ranks 57 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
At the 92nd percentile nationally, Smithers carries the very high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
Hardening a home in Smithers
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Smithers (87% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Smithers's figures come from
Smithers's 92nd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Smithers's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.