Great Bend, PA
Great Bend wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Great Bend at the 18th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 370 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Great Bend at the 17th national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Great Bend's buildings actually sit
Indirect exposure is dominant in Great Bend (79.7% of 370 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 20.3% sit in the Direct zone.
Where Great Bend ranks
Great Bend scores 18th nationally and 19th within Pennsylvania — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Great Bend ranks 25,918 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 19,867 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 1,620 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Great Bend
At the 18th national percentile, Great Bend rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Great Bend (79.7% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Great Bend's 18th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Great Bend, see the exposure-zones guide.