Chevy Chase Section Five, MD
Chevy Chase Section Five wildfire risk explained
Chevy Chase Section Five sits at the 13th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 246 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Chevy Chase Section Five at the 12th percentile, close to its 13th-percentile risk score.
Where Chevy Chase Section Five's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 67.5% of Chevy Chase Section Five's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 32.5% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
How Chevy Chase Section Five compares
There's little gap between Chevy Chase Section Five's 13th national percentile and its 10th percentile inside Maryland, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Chevy Chase Section Five ranks 27,420 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 23,269 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 476 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
Chevy Chase Section Five and the insurance market
At the 13th national percentile, Chevy Chase Section Five rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Even with 67.5% of Chevy Chase Section Five outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 246 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Chevy Chase Section Five. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Chevy Chase Section Five, see the exposure-zones guide.