Whitesburg, KY
Whitesburg, KY's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Whitesburg's 927 buildings earn a 90th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Whitesburg at the 93rd percentile, close to its 90th-percentile risk score.
Whitesburg's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS puts 77.9% of Whitesburg's 927 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 22.1% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Whitesburg against the rest of the country
Whitesburg's risk sits at a similar level relative to Kentucky (92nd percentile statewide) as it does nationally (90th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Whitesburg ranks 3,027 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 12,500 by building count (1 is largest). Within Kentucky alone, it ranks 46 of 552 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Kentucky on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Whitesburg
Whitesburg's very high rating (90th 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.
Hardening a home in Whitesburg
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Whitesburg (77.9% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Whitesburg's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Whitesburg's 3,027-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Whitesburg's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.