What is my wildfire risk, and why a score helps you prioritize

Wildfire risk can feel vague until you break it into parts. In practice, risk is a mix of exposure and vulnerability. Exposure includes wind, topography, nearby fuels, and how embers can reach your home. Vulnerability includes the home’s weak points and the ignition pathways in the immediate landscape.

Why we use a score

A score is not meant to replace common sense or local context. It is a tool to turn a long list into priorities. When clients see which categories are driving the most risk, they can spend money where it changes the odds most, rather than treating everything as equal.

Science forward foundations

Our risk thinking is aligned with widely accepted wildfire frameworks that prioritize ignition prevention, including the NFPA home ignition zone concept and the NIST Hazard Mitigation Methodology, which is a performance based approach designed to prioritize cost effective mitigation at the parcel and community scale.

What we look at, in plain language

· Near home ignition pathways, especially the first five feet

· Structural vulnerabilities, like vents, roof edges, and attachment points

· Vegetation structure and fuel connectivity, including ladder fuels and dense, dry interiors

· Site conditions, including sun, wind, moisture patterns, and slope

· Community context, because homes are connected through fuels and ember exposure corridors

What a score does not do

· It cannot predict whether a fire will happen next year

· It does not replace local fire district requirements or insurance checklists

· It does not claim certainty, it helps you decide what to do first

Related reading

· What to expect from MO’s parcel wildfire risk assessment report

· How we build our risk scores, plain language methodology

· Community wildfire risk, shared risk, and how to move the needle together