Waianae, HI
Waianae, HI's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Waianae at the 100th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 3,620 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Waianae'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
USFS puts 88.4% of Waianae's 3,620 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 11.6% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
How Waianae compares
Waianae's risk sits at a similar level relative to Hawaii (98th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (100th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Waianae ranks 72 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,631 by building count (1 is largest). Within Hawaii alone, it ranks 4 of 163 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Hawaii on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Waianae
At the 100th percentile nationally, Waianae carries the very high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
What would actually reduce this score
Waianae's 88.4% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Waianae's 72-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Waianae, see the exposure-zones guide.