Bethel, DE
How exposed is Bethel to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Bethel lands at the 63rd percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 178 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Bethel at the 63rd national percentile — 0 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Indirect exposure is dominant in Bethel (53.4% of 178 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 46.6% sit in the Direct zone.
Where Bethel ranks
Within Delaware, Bethel ranks higher (94th percentile) than it does nationally (63rd) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bethel ranks 11,620 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 25,703 by building count (1 is largest). Within Delaware alone, it ranks 6 of 79 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Delaware on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Bethel's 63rd-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because 53.4% of Bethel'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
Bethel's 63rd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Bethel, see the exposure-zones guide.