Callaway, MD
Callaway wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Callaway at the 68th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (well above the national norm for wildfire risk), a figure built from 893 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Callaway at the 69th percentile, close to its 68th-percentile risk score.
Where Callaway's buildings actually sit
Direct exposure dominates in Callaway: 88.8% of its 893 buildings, versus 11.2% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
How Callaway compares
Within Maryland, Callaway ranks higher (92nd percentile) than it does nationally (68th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Callaway ranks 10,115 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 12,782 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 45 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Callaway's 68th-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Hardening a home in Callaway
Because Direct exposure dominates in Callaway (88.8%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Callaway's 68th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Callaway, see the exposure-zones guide.