Chelsea, VT
Chelsea, VT's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Chelsea's 262 buildings earn a 18th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Chelsea's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 19th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 64.9% of Chelsea's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 35.1% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 170 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
How Chelsea compares
Compare Chelsea's two percentiles: 80th within Vermont, only 18th nationally — a gap of 62 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Chelsea ranks 25,890 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 22,792 by building count (1 is largest). Within Vermont alone, it ranks 34 of 179 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Vermont on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 18th national percentile, Chelsea rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
With 64.9% of Chelsea in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Chelsea's 18th-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 Chelsea, see the exposure-zones guide.