Stapleton, AL
Stapleton wildfire risk explained
Stapleton sits at the 89th 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 1,392 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Stapleton at the 91st percentile, close to its 89th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
96.7% of Stapleton's 1,392 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 1,346 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 3.3% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
Where Stapleton ranks
Stapleton scores 89th nationally and 96th within Alabama — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Stapleton ranks 3,422 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,665 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alabama alone, it ranks 24 of 592 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alabama on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Stapleton
Stapleton's very high rating (89th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
What would actually reduce this score
Stapleton's 96.7% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
Where Stapleton's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Stapleton's 3,422-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Stapleton's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.