WildfireRiskFinder

Berlin, MD

Berlin, MD's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers

Elevated
47thpercentile nationally

USFS scores Berlin at the 47th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 2,122 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 Berlin at the 47th percentile, close to its 47th-percentile risk score.

What "at risk" means for the buildings here

2,122Total buildings
35.5%Direct exposure
63.7%Indirect exposure
0.8%Minimal exposure

USFS puts 63.7% of Berlin's 2,122 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 35.5% Direct and 0.8% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.

Berlin against the rest of the country

Within Maryland, Berlin ranks higher (66th percentile) than it does nationally (47th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Berlin ranks 16,606 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 7,139 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 177 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.

Berlin and the insurance market

At the 47th national percentile, Berlin rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.

Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it

Because 63.7% of Berlin's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.

More on how this number was built

Every one of the two percentiles behind Berlin's 16,606-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Berlin, see the exposure-zones guide.