Birchwood Lakes, PA
Birchwood Lakes wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Birchwood Lakes at the 57th national percentile for risk to structures, modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a score built from 824 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Birchwood Lakes at the 56th percentile, close to its 57th-percentile risk score.
Where Birchwood Lakes's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 99.9% of Birchwood Lakes's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 0% Indirect share and far above its 0.1% Minimal share — a profile where 823 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
How Birchwood Lakes compares
Within Pennsylvania, Birchwood Lakes ranks higher (93rd percentile) than it does nationally (57th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Birchwood Lakes ranks 13,660 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,412 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 137 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
Birchwood Lakes and the insurance market
At the 57th national percentile, Birchwood Lakes 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
With 99.9% of Birchwood Lakes in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
Where Birchwood Lakes's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Birchwood Lakes's 13,660-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Birchwood Lakes's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.