Sweet Water, AL
Sweet Water, AL's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Sweet Water at the 60th national percentile for risk to structures, well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a score built from 221 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 Sweet Water at the 61st percentile, close to its 60th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
82.8% of Sweet Water's 221 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 183 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 17.2% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
Where Sweet Water ranks
Sweet Water ranks lower within Alabama (26th percentile statewide) than its 60th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Sweet Water ranks 12,565 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,071 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alabama alone, it ranks 437 of 592 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alabama on its state page.
Sweet Water and the insurance market
Sweet Water's 60th-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 82.8% of Sweet Water 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.
Where Sweet Water's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 221 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Sweet Water. The exposure-zones guide covers what Sweet Water's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.