Catawissa, PA
Catawissa wildfire risk explained
Catawissa's 729 buildings earn a 48th-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.)
Separately from the risk score above, Catawissa's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 47th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS puts 90.4% of Catawissa's 729 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 9.6% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
How Catawissa compares
Compare Catawissa's two percentiles: 77th within Pennsylvania, only 48th nationally — a gap of 30 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Catawissa ranks 16,429 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 14,356 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 448 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Catawissa
Catawissa's elevated wildfire rating (48th 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.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Catawissa (90.4% 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
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 729 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Catawissa. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Catawissa, see the exposure-zones guide.