Wendover, UT
Wendover wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Wendover at the 55th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 571 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Wendover's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 52nd percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS puts 88.4% of Wendover's 571 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 7% Direct and 4.6% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Wendover against the rest of the country
Inside Utah, Wendover sits at just the 13th percentile even though it scores 55th nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Wendover ranks 14,167 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 16,244 by building count (1 is largest). Within Utah alone, it ranks 285 of 326 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Utah on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Wendover'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
Wendover's 88.4% 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 Wendover's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Wendover's 14,167-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Wendover's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.