Ilchester, MD
Ilchester wildfire risk explained
Ilchester sits at the 18th 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 7,121 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Ilchester at the 17th percentile, close to its 18th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
7,121 buildings are counted in Ilchester, and 42.9% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 23.8% rated Minimal. At 7,121 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Where Ilchester ranks
There's little gap between Ilchester's 18th national percentile and its 20th percentile inside Maryland, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Ilchester ranks 25,905 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 2,409 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 420 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Ilchester
At the 18th national percentile, Ilchester rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because Direct exposure dominates in Ilchester (42.9%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Ilchester's figures come from
Ilchester's 18th-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 Ilchester's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.