Waimea (Kauai), HI
How exposed is Waimea (Kauai) to wildfire?
Waimea (Kauai)'s 828 buildings earn a 90th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Waimea (Kauai) at the 87th percentile, close to its 90th-percentile risk score.
Where Waimea (Kauai)'s buildings actually sit
828 buildings are counted in Waimea (Kauai), and 79.7% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 20.3% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
Waimea (Kauai) against the rest of the country
Waimea (Kauai)'s 90th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 47th ranking inside Hawaii does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 43 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Waimea (Kauai) ranks 3,081 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,366 by building count (1 is largest). Within Hawaii alone, it ranks 87 of 163 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Hawaii on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Waimea (Kauai)'s very high rating (90th 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.
Hardening a home in Waimea (Kauai)
Because 79.7% of Waimea (Kauai)'s buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Waimea (Kauai)'s figures come from
Waimea (Kauai)'s 90th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Waimea (Kauai)'s dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.