Dawson, PA
Dawson wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Dawson at the 36th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 228 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Dawson at the 38th percentile, close to its 36th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
228 buildings are counted in Dawson, and 70.2% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 29.8% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
Where Dawson ranks
Within Pennsylvania, Dawson ranks higher (52nd percentile) than it does nationally (36th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Dawson ranks 20,244 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 23,869 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 956 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Dawson
Dawson's moderate wildfire rating (36th 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Dawson (70.2% 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
Every one of the two percentiles behind Dawson's 20,244-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Dawson, see the exposure-zones guide.