Harrington, DE
Harrington wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Harrington lands at the 40th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 1,571 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Harrington at the 39th national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Harrington's buildings actually sit
68% of Harrington's 1,571 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 25.6% Direct and 6.4% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
How Harrington compares
There's little gap between Harrington's 40th national percentile and its 47th percentile inside Delaware, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Harrington ranks 18,867 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,879 by building count (1 is largest). Within Delaware alone, it ranks 42 of 79 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Delaware on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Harrington
Harrington's elevated rating (40th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
Harrington's 68% 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.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Harrington's 18,867-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Harrington, see the exposure-zones guide.