Fairwood, MD
How exposed is Fairwood to wildfire?
Fairwood sits at the 29th 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 2,528 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 Fairwood at the 29th percentile, close to its 29th-percentile risk score.
Where Fairwood's buildings actually sit
43.5% of Fairwood's 2,528 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 1,099 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 30% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 26.5% are Minimal.
Where Fairwood ranks
Compare Fairwood's two percentiles: 45th within Maryland, only 29th nationally — a gap of 16 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Fairwood ranks 22,375 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 6,245 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 293 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Fairwood's moderate wildfire rating (29th 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 43.5% of Fairwood 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.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 2,528 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Fairwood. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Fairwood, see the exposure-zones guide.