Charlestown, IN
How exposed is Charlestown to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Charlestown at the 18th national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 4,294 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Charlestown's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 20th percentile nationally.
Charlestown's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Charlestown's buildings (52.3%) 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.
How Charlestown compares
Charlestown's 75th-percentile standing inside Indiana outpaces its 18th 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, Charlestown ranks 25,836 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,980 by building count (1 is largest). Within Indiana alone, it ranks 245 of 967 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Indiana on its state page.
Charlestown and the insurance market
Charlestown's low rating (18th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Charlestown (52.3% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Charlestown's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Charlestown's 25,836-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Charlestown's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.