Colonie, NY
Colonie wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Colonie lands at the 12th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 3,429 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Colonie at the 12th percentile, close to its 12th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 91.2% of Colonie's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 8.8% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
Colonie against the rest of the country
Colonie's 29th-percentile standing inside New York outpaces its 12th 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, Colonie ranks 27,744 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,873 by building count (1 is largest). Within New York alone, it ranks 912 of 1,289 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New York on its state page.
Colonie and the insurance market
At the 12th national percentile, Colonie 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 91.2% of Colonie 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.
Where Colonie's figures come from
Colonie's 12th-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 Colonie's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.