Whitwell, TN
How exposed is Whitwell to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Whitwell lands at the 85th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 1,134 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Whitwell at the 89th percentile, close to its 85th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Of Whitwell's 1,134 counted buildings, 63.1% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Whitwell against the rest of the country
Whitwell scores 85th nationally and 96th within Tennessee — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Whitwell ranks 4,678 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,054 by building count (1 is largest). Within Tennessee alone, it ranks 23 of 502 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Tennessee on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 85th percentile nationally, Whitwell carries the very 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.
Hardening a home in Whitwell
With 63.1% of Whitwell in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
Where Whitwell's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,134 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Whitwell. The exposure-zones guide covers what Whitwell's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.