Chestertown, NY
How exposed is Chestertown to wildfire?
Chestertown's 479 buildings earn a 23rd-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Chestertown at the 24th percentile, close to its 23rd-percentile risk score.
Chestertown's building exposure, zone by zone
Direct exposure dominates in Chestertown: 57.4% of its 479 buildings, versus 42.6% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
How Chestertown compares
Within New York, Chestertown ranks higher (49th percentile) than it does nationally (23rd) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Chestertown ranks 24,241 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 17,730 by building count (1 is largest). Within New York alone, it ranks 653 of 1,289 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New York on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Chestertown's moderate wildfire rating (23rd 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because Direct exposure dominates in Chestertown (57.4%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Chestertown's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Chestertown's 24,241-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Chestertown's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.