Willow Creek, AK
How exposed is Willow Creek to wildfire?
USFS scores Willow Creek at the 95th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally), a figure built from 220 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Willow Creek at the 93rd percentile, close to its 95th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
100% of Willow Creek's 220 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 220 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 0% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
How Willow Creek compares
Willow Creek's risk sits at a similar level relative to Alaska (86th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (95th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Willow Creek ranks 1,500 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,106 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alaska alone, it ranks 47 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 95th percentile nationally, Willow Creek 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.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Willow Creek (100%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Willow Creek's 95th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Willow Creek, see the exposure-zones guide.