Deal Island, MD
How exposed is Deal Island to wildfire?
Deal Island's 479 buildings earn a 97th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Deal Island at the 94th percentile, close to its 97th-percentile risk score.
Where Deal Island's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 80.8% of Deal Island's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 0.6% Indirect share and far above its 18.6% Minimal share — a profile where 387 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
Deal Island against the rest of the country
Deal Island scores 97th nationally and 99th within Maryland — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Deal Island ranks 1,037 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 17,723 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 7 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
Deal Island and the insurance market
Deal Island's very high rating (97th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 80.8% of Deal Island in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
Where Deal Island's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 479 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Deal Island. The exposure-zones guide covers what Deal Island's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.