White Mountain, AK
How exposed is White Mountain to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts White Mountain at the 77th national percentile for risk to structures, well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a score built from 102 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks White Mountain at the 72nd national percentile — 5 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
White Mountain's building exposure, zone by zone
51% of White Mountain's 102 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 44.1% Direct and 4.9% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
How White Mountain compares
White Mountain's 77th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 60th ranking inside Alaska does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 17 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, White Mountain ranks 7,173 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 28,932 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alaska alone, it ranks 129 of 322 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alaska on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 77th percentile nationally, White Mountain carries the high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in White Mountain (51% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where White Mountain's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind White Mountain's 7,173-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what White Mountain's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.