Sylva, NC
How exposed is Sylva to wildfire?
Sylva's 1,541 buildings earn a 72nd-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — well above the national norm for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Sylva at the 75th national percentile — 3 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Sylva's building exposure, zone by zone
Indirect exposure is dominant in Sylva (53.9% of 1,541 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 46.1% sit in the Direct zone.
How Sylva compares
There's little gap between Sylva's 72nd national percentile and its 72nd percentile inside North Carolina, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Sylva ranks 8,958 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,980 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Carolina alone, it ranks 216 of 772 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Carolina on its state page.
Sylva and the insurance market
At the 72nd percentile nationally, Sylva 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.
What would actually reduce this score
Because 53.9% of Sylva'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 Sylva's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,541 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Sylva. The exposure-zones guide covers what Sylva's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.