Taft, TN
How exposed is Taft to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Taft at the 29th national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 272 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 Taft at the 32nd percentile, close to its 29th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
272 buildings are counted in Taft, and 95.2% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 0% rated Minimal.
Taft against the rest of the country
Taft's risk sits at a similar level relative to Tennessee (18th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (29th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Taft ranks 22,265 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 22,451 by building count (1 is largest). Within Tennessee alone, it ranks 415 of 502 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Tennessee on its state page.
Taft and the insurance market
Taft's moderate wildfire rating (29th 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 Direct exposure dominates in Taft (95.2%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Taft's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 272 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Taft. The exposure-zones guide covers what Taft's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.