Whitesville, WV
Whitesville, WV's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Whitesville at the 93rd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally), a figure built from 261 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Whitesville's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 94th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Indirect exposure is dominant in Whitesville (68.2% of 261 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 31.8% sit in the Direct zone.
How Whitesville compares
Whitesville's risk sits at a similar level relative to West Virginia (90th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (93rd) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Whitesville ranks 2,254 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 22,815 by building count (1 is largest). Within West Virginia alone, it ranks 44 of 429 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for West Virginia on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Whitesville
Whitesville's 93rd-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
Whitesville's 68.2% 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.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 261 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Whitesville. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Whitesville, see the exposure-zones guide.