Cookstown, NJ
Cookstown wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Cookstown at the 86th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 503 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Cookstown's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 85th percentile nationally.
Cookstown's building exposure, zone by zone
Direct exposure dominates in Cookstown: 71.6% of its 503 buildings, versus 23.9% Indirect and 4.6% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Cookstown against the rest of the country
Cookstown's risk sits at a similar level relative to New Jersey (91st percentile statewide) as it does nationally (86th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Cookstown ranks 4,446 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 17,289 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Jersey alone, it ranks 60 of 700 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Jersey on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 86th percentile nationally, Cookstown carries the very high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
What would actually reduce this score
Cookstown's 71.6% 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 Cookstown's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 503 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Cookstown. The exposure-zones guide covers what Cookstown's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.