Spelter, WV
Spelter, WV's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Spelter's 209 buildings earn a 39th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Spelter at the 39th national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Spelter's buildings actually sit
209 buildings are counted in Spelter, and 71.3% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 28.7% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
How Spelter compares
Spelter's 39th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 11th ranking inside West Virginia does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 28 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Spelter ranks 19,369 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,538 by building count (1 is largest). Within West Virginia alone, it ranks 384 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
Spelter's moderate rating (39th 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 Spelter
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Spelter (71.3% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Spelter's figures come from
Spelter's 39th-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 Spelter's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.