Vandiver, AL
Vandiver, AL's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Vandiver lands at the 80th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 726 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Vandiver at the 83rd national percentile — 3 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Vandiver's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS classifies 98.9% of Vandiver's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 1% Indirect share and far above its 0.1% Minimal share — a profile where 718 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
How Vandiver compares
Vandiver's risk sits at a similar level relative to Alabama (76th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (80th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Vandiver ranks 6,228 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 14,377 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alabama alone, it ranks 144 of 592 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alabama on its state page.
Vandiver and the insurance market
Vandiver's 80th-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 Vandiver
Because Direct exposure dominates in Vandiver (98.9%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 726 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Vandiver. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Vandiver, see the exposure-zones guide.