South Sumter, SC
South Sumter wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, South Sumter lands at the 75th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 1,138 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, South Sumter's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 76th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
1,138 buildings are counted in South Sumter, and 59.8% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 40.2% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
South Sumter against the rest of the country
There's little gap between South Sumter's 75th national percentile and its 74th percentile inside South Carolina, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, South Sumter ranks 7,855 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,031 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Carolina alone, it ranks 124 of 474 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Carolina on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
South Sumter's 75th-percentile, 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because 59.8% of South Sumter's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,138 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for South Sumter. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond South Sumter, see the exposure-zones guide.