Manchester, VT
Manchester wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Manchester at the 18th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 649 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Manchester at the 18th national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Manchester's building exposure, zone by zone
74.4% of Manchester's 649 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 483 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 25.6% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
Where Manchester ranks
Compare Manchester's two percentiles: 79th within Vermont, only 18th nationally — a gap of 61 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Manchester ranks 25,952 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 15,214 by building count (1 is largest). Within Vermont alone, it ranks 39 of 179 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Vermont on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 18th national percentile, Manchester rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Hardening a home in Manchester
With 74.4% of Manchester in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Manchester's 18th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Manchester, see the exposure-zones guide.