Startup, WA
Startup, WA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Startup at the 36th national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 598 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 Startup at the 35th percentile, close to its 36th-percentile risk score.
Where Startup's buildings actually sit
63.4% of Startup's 598 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 379 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 36.6% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
Where Startup ranks
Startup's 54th-percentile standing inside Washington outpaces its 36th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Startup ranks 20,309 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 15,873 by building count (1 is largest). Within Washington alone, it ranks 289 of 628 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Washington on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Startup
Startup's moderate wildfire rating (36th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 63.4% of Startup in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Startup's 36th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Startup, see the exposure-zones guide.