Kettering, MD
Kettering, MD's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Kettering sits at the 32nd percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 4,892 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Kettering at the 32nd national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
42.8% of Kettering's 4,892 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 23.7% Direct and 33.5% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Kettering against the rest of the country
Kettering's 50th-percentile standing inside Maryland outpaces its 32nd national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Kettering ranks 21,391 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,500 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 266 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Kettering's moderate rating (32nd 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
Kettering's 42.8% 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 Kettering's 21,391-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Kettering, see the exposure-zones guide.