Cheshire, MA
Cheshire wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Cheshire at the 19th national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 310 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Cheshire at the 19th percentile, close to its 19th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
310 buildings are counted in Cheshire, and 66.5% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 33.6% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
Where Cheshire ranks
There's little gap between Cheshire's 19th national percentile and its 19th percentile inside Massachusetts, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Cheshire ranks 25,563 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 21,370 by building count (1 is largest). Within Massachusetts alone, it ranks 202 of 248 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Massachusetts on its state page.
Cheshire and the insurance market
Cheshire's low rating (19th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Cheshire (66.5% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Cheshire's figures come from
Cheshire's 19th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Cheshire's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.