Damascus, MD
Damascus, MD's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Damascus lands at the 18th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 5,352 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Damascus's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 17th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 80.4% of Damascus's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 18.2% Indirect share and far above its 1.4% Minimal share — a profile where 4,305 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most. At 5,352 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Where Damascus ranks
There's little gap between Damascus's 18th national percentile and its 21st percentile inside Maryland, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Damascus ranks 25,811 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,221 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 413 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
Damascus and the insurance market
Damascus's low rating (18th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in Damascus
Because Direct exposure dominates in Damascus (80.4%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Damascus's figures come from
Damascus's 18th-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 Damascus's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.