Windmill, NM
How exposed is Windmill to wildfire?
Windmill sits at the 69th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 62 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Windmill at the 70th national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 98.4% of Windmill's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 1.6% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 61 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
Where Windmill ranks
Windmill's 69th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 41st ranking inside New Mexico does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 29 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Windmill ranks 9,706 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 30,588 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Mexico alone, it ranks 295 of 495 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Mexico on its state page.
Windmill and the insurance market
Windmill's 69th-percentile, 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.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Windmill (98.4%), 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
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 62 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Windmill. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Windmill, see the exposure-zones guide.