Merrick, NY
How exposed is Merrick to wildfire?
Merrick's 8,113 buildings earn a 52nd-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Merrick at the 45th national percentile — 8 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
Most of Merrick's buildings (97.2% of 8,113) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure. At 8,113 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
How Merrick compares
Within New York, Merrick ranks higher (96th percentile) than it does nationally (52nd) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Merrick ranks 15,040 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 2,070 by building count (1 is largest). Within New York alone, it ranks 48 of 1,289 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New York on its state page.
Merrick and the insurance market
At the 52nd national percentile, Merrick rates elevated 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 Merrick
With 97.2% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Merrick gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Merrick's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 8,113 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Merrick. The exposure-zones guide covers what Merrick's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.