Dover, NH
Dover wildfire risk explained
Dover sits at the 24th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 10,182 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Dover at the 22nd percentile, close to its 24th-percentile risk score.
Where Dover's buildings actually sit
10,182 buildings are counted in Dover, and 61.7% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 37.7% in Direct exposure or the 0.5% rated Minimal. At 10,182 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
How Dover compares
Dover's 77th-percentile standing inside New Hampshire outpaces its 24th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Dover ranks 24,053 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 1,578 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Hampshire alone, it ranks 24 of 100 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Hampshire on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Dover
At the 24th national percentile, Dover rates moderate for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Dover (61.7% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Dover's figures come from
Dover's 24th-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 Dover's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.