Alfred, ME
Alfred wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Alfred lands at the 20th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a figure built from its 521 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 Alfred at the 20th percentile, close to its 20th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
521 buildings are counted in Alfred, and 79.1% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 0% rated Minimal.
Where Alfred ranks
Compare Alfred's two percentiles: 86th within Maine, only 20th nationally — a gap of 66 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Alfred ranks 25,084 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 17,008 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maine alone, it ranks 21 of 155 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maine on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Alfred
Alfred's moderate rating (20th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in Alfred
Because Direct exposure dominates in Alfred (79.1%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Alfred's figures come from
Alfred's 20th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Alfred's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.