Waynesville, NC
Waynesville wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Waynesville at the 70th national percentile for risk to structures, well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a score built from 5,799 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Waynesville at the 73rd percentile, close to its 70th-percentile risk score.
Waynesville's building exposure, zone by zone
Direct exposure dominates in Waynesville: 52.3% of its 5,799 buildings, versus 45.6% Indirect and 2.1% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap. At 5,799 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Waynesville against the rest of the country
Waynesville's risk sits at a similar level relative to North Carolina (70th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (70th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Waynesville ranks 9,466 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 2,979 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Carolina alone, it ranks 235 of 772 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Carolina on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Waynesville's high rating (70th 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because Direct exposure dominates in Waynesville (52.3%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Waynesville's figures come from
Waynesville's 70th-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 Waynesville's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.