Finzel, MD
How exposed is Finzel to wildfire?
Finzel's 411 buildings earn a 57th-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.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Finzel at the 55th national percentile — 2 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Of Finzel's 411 counted buildings, 99% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Where Finzel ranks
Within Maryland, Finzel ranks higher (81st percentile) than it does nationally (57th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Finzel ranks 13,462 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 19,010 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 100 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
Finzel and the insurance market
At the 57th national percentile, Finzel rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because Direct exposure dominates in Finzel (99%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Finzel's 13,462-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Finzel, see the exposure-zones guide.