Fenwick Island, DE
Fenwick Island wildfire risk explained
Fenwick Island's 763 buildings earn a 47th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Fenwick Island at the 37th percentile, lower than its 47th-percentile risk score, because so much is actually built here.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
99.7% of Fenwick Island's 763 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 0.3% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Where Fenwick Island ranks
Compare Fenwick Island's two percentiles: 74th within Delaware, only 47th nationally — a gap of 28 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Fenwick Island ranks 16,819 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,980 by building count (1 is largest). Within Delaware alone, it ranks 21 of 79 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Delaware on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Fenwick Island's elevated wildfire rating (47th 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.
Hardening a home in Fenwick Island
Even with 99.7% of Fenwick Island outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
Where Fenwick Island's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Fenwick Island's 16,819-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Fenwick Island's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.