Brainards, NJ
How exposed is Brainards to wildfire?
USFS scores Brainards at the 15th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 92 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Brainards at the 14th national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Brainards's buildings actually sit
Most of Brainards's buildings (67.4%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
Brainards against the rest of the country
Brainards's risk sits at a similar level relative to New Jersey (1st percentile statewide) as it does nationally (15th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Brainards ranks 26,696 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 29,414 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Jersey alone, it ranks 691 of 700 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Jersey on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Brainards
At the 15th national percentile, Brainards rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Brainards (67.4% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Brainards's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 92 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Brainards. The exposure-zones guide covers what Brainards's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.