Vancouver, WA
Vancouver, WA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Vancouver lands at the 28th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a figure built from its 60,423 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Vancouver's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 33rd percentile nationally.
Where Vancouver's buildings actually sit
89.9% of Vancouver's 60,423 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 1.3% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself. At 60,423 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Vancouver against the rest of the country
Compare Vancouver's two percentiles: 47th within Washington, only 28th nationally — a gap of 19 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Vancouver ranks 22,614 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 130 by building count (1 is largest). Within Washington alone, it ranks 334 of 628 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Washington on its state page.
Vancouver and the insurance market
Vancouver's moderate rating (28th 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
Even with 89.9% of Vancouver outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
Where Vancouver's figures come from
Vancouver's 28th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Vancouver's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.