Franklintown, PA
Franklintown wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Franklintown at the 23rd national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 217 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Franklintown at the 22nd national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Franklintown's building exposure, zone by zone
Indirect exposure is dominant in Franklintown (66.8% of 217 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 33.2% sit in the Direct zone.
Where Franklintown ranks
There's little gap between Franklintown's 23rd national percentile and its 26th percentile inside Pennsylvania, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Franklintown ranks 24,282 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,247 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 1,480 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
Franklintown and the insurance market
Franklintown's moderate rating (23rd percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Franklintown's 66.8% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Franklintown's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 217 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Franklintown. The exposure-zones guide covers what Franklintown's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.