Cambridge, NY
Cambridge wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Cambridge at the 22nd national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 1,044 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Cambridge at the 22nd national percentile — 0 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Cambridge's buildings (63.2%) 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.
Cambridge against the rest of the country
Compare Cambridge's two percentiles: 48th within New York, only 22nd nationally — a gap of 26 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Cambridge ranks 24,525 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,634 by building count (1 is largest). Within New York alone, it ranks 672 of 1,289 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New York on its state page.
Cambridge and the insurance market
At the 22nd national percentile, Cambridge 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 ember exposure the dominant pattern in Cambridge (63.2% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Cambridge's 22nd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Cambridge, see the exposure-zones guide.