Ashton-Sandy Spring, MD
Ashton-Sandy Spring wildfire risk explained
Ashton-Sandy Spring's 2,380 buildings earn a 20th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Ashton-Sandy Spring at the 19th percentile, close to its 20th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
95.1% of Ashton-Sandy Spring's 2,380 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 2,264 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 4.9% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
Ashton-Sandy Spring against the rest of the country
Ashton-Sandy Spring scores 20th nationally and 26th within Maryland — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Ashton-Sandy Spring ranks 25,086 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 6,548 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 390 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
Ashton-Sandy Spring and the insurance market
Ashton-Sandy Spring'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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 95.1% of Ashton-Sandy Spring in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
Where Ashton-Sandy Spring's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Ashton-Sandy Spring's 25,086-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Ashton-Sandy Spring's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.