Valdez, AK
How exposed is Valdez to wildfire?
Valdez's 2,217 buildings earn a 14th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Valdez at the 14th percentile, close to its 14th-percentile risk score.
Where Valdez's buildings actually sit
63.1% of Valdez's 2,217 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 36.2% Direct and 0.7% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Where Valdez ranks
Valdez's risk sits at a similar level relative to Alaska (18th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (14th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Valdez ranks 27,219 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 6,887 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alaska alone, it ranks 263 of 322 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alaska on its state page.
Valdez and the insurance market
Valdez's low rating (14th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Valdez (63.1% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Valdez's 27,219-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Valdez, see the exposure-zones guide.