Theodore, AL
Theodore wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Theodore at the 88th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 3,097 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Theodore at the 89th national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Theodore's building exposure, zone by zone
71.8% of Theodore's 3,097 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 2,223 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 28.2% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
How Theodore compares
Theodore's risk sits at a similar level relative to Alabama (93rd percentile statewide) as it does nationally (88th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Theodore ranks 3,831 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,292 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alabama alone, it ranks 40 of 592 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alabama on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Theodore's 88th-percentile, very 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.
Hardening a home in Theodore
With 71.8% of Theodore 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.
More on how this number was built
Theodore's 88th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Theodore, see the exposure-zones guide.