Surry, VA
Surry wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Surry at the 53rd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 292 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Surry at the 52nd percentile, close to its 53rd-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
292 buildings are counted in Surry, and 51% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 49% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
Where Surry ranks
There's little gap between Surry's 53rd national percentile and its 58th percentile inside Virginia, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Surry ranks 14,859 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 21,871 by building count (1 is largest). Within Virginia alone, it ranks 289 of 681 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Virginia on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Surry's elevated wildfire rating (53rd 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.
What would actually reduce this score
Because 51% of Surry'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.
Where Surry's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 292 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Surry. The exposure-zones guide covers what Surry's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.