Hazleton, PA
Hazleton, PA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Hazleton at the 43rd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 9,285 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Hazleton at the 43rd percentile, close to its 43rd-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
97.2% of Hazleton's 9,285 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 2.8% Direct and 0% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone. At 9,285 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
How Hazleton compares
Within Pennsylvania, Hazleton ranks higher (69th percentile) than it does nationally (43rd) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Hazleton ranks 17,941 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 1,774 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 614 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
Hazleton and the insurance market
At the 43rd national percentile, Hazleton rates elevated 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
Hazleton's 97.2% 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
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 9,285 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Hazleton. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Hazleton, see the exposure-zones guide.