Watts Mills, SC
How exposed is Watts Mills to wildfire?
Watts Mills sits at the 62nd percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 929 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Watts Mills at the 64th national percentile — 3 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Indirect exposure is dominant in Watts Mills (53.1% of 929 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 46.9% sit in the Direct zone.
Where Watts Mills ranks
Watts Mills ranks lower within South Carolina (24th percentile statewide) than its 62nd national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Watts Mills ranks 12,142 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 12,481 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Carolina alone, it ranks 364 of 474 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Carolina on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Watts Mills's 62nd-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.
What would actually reduce this score
Watts Mills's 53.1% 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.
Where Watts Mills's figures come from
Watts Mills's 62nd-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 Watts Mills's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.