Washington, VA
Washington, VA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Washington lands at the 61st percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 144 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Washington at the 61st national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Washington's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 80.6% of Washington's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 19.4% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 116 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
Where Washington ranks
There's little gap between Washington's 61st national percentile and its 68th percentile inside Virginia, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Washington ranks 12,307 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 27,137 by building count (1 is largest). Within Virginia alone, it ranks 221 of 681 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Virginia on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Washington
Washington's 61st-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Hardening a home in Washington
Washington's 80.6% 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 Washington's figures come from
Washington's 61st-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 Washington's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.