Whitestone, AK
Whitestone wildfire risk explained
Whitestone 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 46 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 Whitestone at the 97th percentile, close to its 98th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 97.8% of Whitestone's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 2.2% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 45 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
Where Whitestone ranks
Whitestone's risk sits at a similar level relative to Alaska (93rd percentile statewide) as it does nationally (98th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Whitestone ranks 743 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 31,014 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alaska alone, it ranks 24 of 322 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alaska on its state page.
Whitestone and the insurance market
Whitestone'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 Direct exposure dominates in Whitestone (97.8%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Whitestone's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Whitestone's 743-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Whitestone's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.