Fryeburg, ME
Fryeburg, ME's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Fryeburg sits at the 17th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 998 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Fryeburg's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 17th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Fryeburg's buildings (71.8%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
How Fryeburg compares
Within Maine, Fryeburg ranks higher (77th percentile) than it does nationally (17th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Fryeburg ranks 26,311 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,949 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maine alone, it ranks 36 of 155 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maine on its state page.
Fryeburg and the insurance market
Fryeburg's low rating (17th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in Fryeburg
Because 71.8% of Fryeburg's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Fryeburg's figures come from
Fryeburg's 17th-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 Fryeburg's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.