Buzzards Bay, MA
How exposed is Buzzards Bay to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Buzzards Bay at the 32nd national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 1,831 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Buzzards Bay's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 22nd percentile nationally.
Buzzards Bay's building exposure, zone by zone
55.9% of Buzzards Bay's 1,831 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 9.2% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
How Buzzards Bay compares
Buzzards Bay's 84th-percentile standing inside Massachusetts outpaces its 32nd national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Buzzards Bay ranks 21,583 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 7,980 by building count (1 is largest). Within Massachusetts alone, it ranks 41 of 248 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Massachusetts on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 32nd national percentile, Buzzards Bay rates moderate 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 55.9% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Buzzards Bay gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
More on how this number was built
Buzzards Bay's 32nd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Buzzards Bay, see the exposure-zones guide.