Waitsburg, WA
Waitsburg wildfire risk explained
Waitsburg's 809 buildings earn a 55th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Waitsburg at the 56th national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Waitsburg's building exposure, zone by zone
Waitsburg rates 77.4% Minimal exposure against just 22.6% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 809 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
Where Waitsburg ranks
Waitsburg scores 55th nationally and 64th within Washington — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Waitsburg ranks 14,294 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,560 by building count (1 is largest). Within Washington alone, it ranks 226 of 628 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Washington on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Waitsburg
Waitsburg's elevated rating (55th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
Even with 77.4% of Waitsburg outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 809 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Waitsburg. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Waitsburg, see the exposure-zones guide.