Varnado, LA
Varnado wildfire risk explained
Varnado sits at the 87th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 235 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Varnado at the 90th percentile, close to its 87th-percentile risk score.
Varnado's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS classifies 70.6% of Varnado's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 29.4% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 166 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
Varnado against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Varnado's 87th national percentile and its 97th percentile inside Louisiana, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Varnado ranks 4,066 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 23,627 by building count (1 is largest). Within Louisiana alone, it ranks 17 of 488 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Louisiana on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Varnado's 87th-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.
What would actually reduce this score
With 70.6% of Varnado 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 235 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Varnado. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Varnado, see the exposure-zones guide.