Bethany, PA
Bethany wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Bethany lands at the 44th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 153 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Bethany at the 46th percentile, close to its 44th-percentile risk score.
Bethany's building exposure, zone by zone
Of Bethany's 153 counted buildings, 100% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
How Bethany compares
Within Pennsylvania, Bethany ranks higher (71st percentile) than it does nationally (44th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bethany ranks 17,535 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 26,771 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 573 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 44th national percentile, Bethany rates elevated 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
Bethany's 100% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
Where Bethany's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Bethany's 17,535-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Bethany's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.