Kinderhook, NY
Kinderhook wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Kinderhook at the 17th national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 799 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Kinderhook's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 16th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Kinderhook's buildings (54.6%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
Where Kinderhook ranks
Within New York, Kinderhook ranks higher (38th percentile) than it does nationally (17th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Kinderhook ranks 26,322 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,644 by building count (1 is largest). Within New York alone, it ranks 794 of 1,289 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New York on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 17th national percentile, Kinderhook 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 Kinderhook (54.6% 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
Every one of the two percentiles behind Kinderhook's 26,322-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Kinderhook, see the exposure-zones guide.