Wheeler, TX
Wheeler wildfire risk explained
Wheeler sits at the 98th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 1,067 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Wheeler at the 98th percentile, close to its 98th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Wheeler's buildings (73.2%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
Where Wheeler ranks
Wheeler scores 98th nationally and 98th within Texas — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Wheeler ranks 801 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,481 by building count (1 is largest). Within Texas alone, it ranks 38 of 1,795 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Texas on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Wheeler's 98th-percentile, very 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because 73.2% of Wheeler's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Wheeler's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,067 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Wheeler. The exposure-zones guide covers what Wheeler's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.