Tappahannock, VA
Tappahannock wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Tappahannock lands at the 41st percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 1,241 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Tappahannock at the 37th percentile, close to its 41st-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Tappahannock's buildings (73.9%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
How Tappahannock compares
There's little gap between Tappahannock's 41st national percentile and its 35th percentile inside Virginia, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Tappahannock ranks 18,639 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 10,406 by building count (1 is largest). Within Virginia alone, it ranks 447 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
At the 41st national percentile, Tappahannock rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Hardening a home in Tappahannock
Because 73.9% of Tappahannock'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 Tappahannock's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Tappahannock's 18,639-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Tappahannock's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.