Bel Air (Harford), MD
How exposed is Bel Air (Harford) to wildfire?
Bel Air (Harford) sits at the 10th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 3,416 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Bel Air (Harford) at the 9th percentile, close to its 10th-percentile risk score.
Where Bel Air (Harford)'s buildings actually sit
Bel Air (Harford) rates 77.1% Minimal exposure against just 20.8% Direct and 2.1% Indirect — of 3,416 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
Bel Air (Harford) against the rest of the country
Bel Air (Harford) scores 10th nationally and 4th 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, Bel Air (Harford) ranks 28,459 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,893 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 504 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Bel Air (Harford)'s low wildfire rating (10th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
What would actually reduce this score
With 77.1% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Bel Air (Harford) gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Bel Air (Harford)'s figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 3,416 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Bel Air (Harford). The exposure-zones guide covers what Bel Air (Harford)'s dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.