Clarence, PA
Clarence wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Clarence at the 56th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 534 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Clarence's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 55th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
97.8% of Clarence's 534 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 522 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 2.3% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
Clarence against the rest of the country
Compare Clarence's two percentiles: 92nd within Pennsylvania, only 56th nationally — a gap of 36 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Clarence ranks 13,941 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 16,814 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 162 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
Clarence and the insurance market
Clarence's elevated wildfire rating (56th 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.
Hardening a home in Clarence
Clarence's 97.8% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
Where Clarence's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 534 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Clarence. The exposure-zones guide covers what Clarence's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.