Vernon, UT
Vernon wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Vernon at the 100th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally), a figure built from 228 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Vernon's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 100th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Of Vernon's 228 counted buildings, 96.5% 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.
How Vernon compares
There's little gap between Vernon's 100th national percentile and its 100th percentile inside Utah, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Vernon ranks 15 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 23,874 by building count (1 is largest). Within Utah alone, it ranks 1 of 326 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Utah on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Vernon's 100th-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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 96.5% of Vernon 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.
Where Vernon's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 228 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Vernon. The exposure-zones guide covers what Vernon's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.