Barre, VT
Barre, VT's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Barre at the 13th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 3,695 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 Barre at the 14th percentile, close to its 13th-percentile risk score.
Where Barre's buildings actually sit
Most of Barre's buildings (87%) 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.
How Barre compares
There's little gap between Barre's 13th national percentile and its 24th percentile inside Vermont, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Barre ranks 27,343 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,535 by building count (1 is largest). Within Vermont alone, it ranks 136 of 179 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Vermont on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Barre
At the 13th national percentile, Barre rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Barre (87% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Barre's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 3,695 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Barre. The exposure-zones guide covers what Barre's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.