WildfireRiskFinder

Washington, MO

Washington wildfire risk explained

Elevated
53rdpercentile nationally

USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Washington at the 53rd national percentile for risk to structures, modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a score built from 6,490 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)

Separately from the risk score above, Washington's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 54th percentile nationally.

What "at risk" means for the buildings here

6,490Total buildings
11.2%Direct exposure
26.3%Indirect exposure
62.5%Minimal exposure

Most of Washington's buildings (62.5% of 6,490) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure. At 6,490 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.

How Washington compares

There's little gap between Washington's 53rd national percentile and its 38th percentile inside Missouri, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Washington ranks 14,908 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 2,675 by building count (1 is largest). Within Missouri alone, it ranks 657 of 1,062 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Missouri on its state page.

Shopping for coverage in Washington

At the 53rd national percentile, Washington rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.

What would actually reduce this score

With 62.5% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Washington gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.

More on how this number was built

The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 6,490 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Washington. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Washington, see the exposure-zones guide.