The Plains, VA
The Plains, VA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
The Plains's 207 buildings earn a 36th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, The Plains's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 35th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Of The Plains's 207 counted buildings, 69.6% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
How The Plains compares
There's little gap between The Plains's 36th national percentile and its 25th percentile inside Virginia, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, The Plains ranks 20,283 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,625 by building count (1 is largest). Within Virginia alone, it ranks 510 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 36th national percentile, The Plains rates moderate for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in The Plains (69.6%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where The Plains's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind The Plains's 20,283-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what The Plains's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.