Wagener, SC
Wagener, SC's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Wagener at the 71st national percentile for risk to structures, well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a score built from 506 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Wagener at the 71st percentile, close to its 71st-percentile risk score.
Where Wagener's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 55.7% of Wagener's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 44.3% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 282 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
How Wagener compares
Wagener scores 71st nationally and 62nd within South Carolina — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Wagener ranks 9,151 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 17,246 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Carolina alone, it ranks 182 of 474 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Carolina on its state page.
Wagener and the insurance market
Wagener's high rating (71st percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
What would actually reduce this score
Wagener's 55.7% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
Where Wagener's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Wagener's 9,151-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Wagener's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.