Townsend, TN
Townsend wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Townsend at the 95th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 578 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Townsend at the 95th national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Townsend's building exposure, zone by zone
Of Townsend's 578 counted buildings, 72.3% 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.
Townsend against the rest of the country
Townsend's risk sits at a similar level relative to Tennessee (100th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (95th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Townsend ranks 1,617 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 16,138 by building count (1 is largest). Within Tennessee alone, it ranks 1 of 502 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Tennessee on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Townsend
Townsend's very high rating (95th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
What would actually reduce this score
With 72.3% of Townsend 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
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 578 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Townsend. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Townsend, see the exposure-zones guide.