Steele, AL
How exposed is Steele to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Steele at the 80th national percentile for risk to structures, well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a score built from 784 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Steele's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 82nd percentile nationally.
Steele's building exposure, zone by zone
Direct exposure dominates in Steele: 87% of its 784 buildings, versus 13% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Steele against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Steele's 80th national percentile and its 74th percentile inside Alabama, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Steele ranks 6,354 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,776 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alabama alone, it ranks 153 of 592 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alabama on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 80th percentile nationally, Steele carries the 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Steele's 87% 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.
More on how this number was built
Steele's 80th-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 Steele, see the exposure-zones guide.