Bethlehem Village, CT
How exposed is Bethlehem Village to wildfire?
USFS scores Bethlehem Village at the 48th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 1,520 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Bethlehem Village at the 47th national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Bethlehem Village's building exposure, zone by zone
Direct exposure dominates in Bethlehem Village: 96.2% of its 1,520 buildings, versus 3.2% Indirect and 0.6% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
How Bethlehem Village compares
Compare Bethlehem Village's two percentiles: 100th within Connecticut, only 48th nationally — a gap of 51 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bethlehem Village ranks 16,314 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,082 by building count (1 is largest). Within Connecticut alone, it ranks 2 of 214 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Connecticut on its state page.
Bethlehem Village and the insurance market
Bethlehem Village's elevated rating (48th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Bethlehem Village (96.2%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Bethlehem Village's figures come from
Bethlehem Village's 48th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Bethlehem Village's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.