Bier, MD
How exposed is Bier to wildfire?
Bier's 166 buildings earn a 56th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Bier at the 55th national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Bier's building exposure, zone by zone
Direct exposure dominates in Bier: 96.4% of its 166 buildings, versus 3.6% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Bier against the rest of the country
Compare Bier's two percentiles: 80th within Maryland, only 56th nationally — a gap of 23 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bier ranks 13,706 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 26,171 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 108 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
Bier and the insurance market
Bier's elevated rating (56th 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
Bier's 96.4% 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.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 166 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Bier. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Bier, see the exposure-zones guide.