Chewton, PA
Chewton wildfire risk explained
Chewton's 370 buildings earn a 39th-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 Chewton at the 40th percentile, close to its 39th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS puts 67.3% of Chewton's 370 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 32.7% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
How Chewton compares
Chewton's 60th-percentile standing inside Pennsylvania outpaces its 39th 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, Chewton ranks 19,268 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 19,865 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 793 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
Chewton and the insurance market
Chewton's moderate wildfire rating (39th 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.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Chewton (67.3% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 370 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Chewton. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Chewton, see the exposure-zones guide.