Distant, PA
Distant wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Distant at the 39th national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 420 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Distant at the 39th percentile, close to its 39th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Direct exposure dominates in Distant: 66.9% of its 420 buildings, versus 33.1% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Where Distant ranks
Compare Distant's two percentiles: 60th within Pennsylvania, only 39th nationally — a gap of 21 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Distant ranks 19,355 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 18,824 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 805 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Distant
Distant's moderate rating (39th 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 Distant
With 66.9% of Distant 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 Distant's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 420 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Distant. The exposure-zones guide covers what Distant's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.