Birmingham, PA
Birmingham wildfire risk explained
Birmingham's 51 buildings earn a 43rd-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.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Birmingham at the 42nd percentile, close to its 43rd-percentile risk score.
Where Birmingham's buildings actually sit
Indirect exposure is dominant in Birmingham (64.7% of 51 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 35.3% sit in the Direct zone.
How Birmingham compares
Within Pennsylvania, Birmingham ranks higher (69th percentile) than it does nationally (43rd) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Birmingham ranks 18,003 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 30,911 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 619 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
Birmingham and the insurance market
Birmingham's elevated wildfire rating (43rd percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
Hardening a home in Birmingham
Birmingham's 64.7% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Birmingham's figures come from
Birmingham's 43rd-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 Birmingham's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.