Ashland, ME
Ashland, ME's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Ashland at the 9th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 566 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 Ashland at the 9th percentile, close to its 9th-percentile risk score.
Where Ashland's buildings actually sit
Most of Ashland's buildings (51.6%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
Where Ashland ranks
Within Maine, Ashland ranks higher (40th percentile) than it does nationally (9th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Ashland ranks 28,645 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 16,308 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maine alone, it ranks 91 of 155 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maine on its state page.
Ashland and the insurance market
Ashland's low rating (9th 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 Ashland
Ashland's 51.6% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 566 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Ashland. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Ashland, see the exposure-zones guide.