Messiah College, PA
Messiah College, PA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Messiah College sits at the 19th 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 66 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 Messiah College at the 19th percentile, close to its 19th-percentile risk score.
Messiah College's building exposure, zone by zone
68.2% of Messiah College's 66 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 31.8% Direct and 0% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Messiah College against the rest of the country
Messiah College scores 19th nationally and 21st within Pennsylvania — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Messiah College ranks 25,447 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 30,446 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 1,578 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Messiah College's low rating (19th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because 68.2% of Messiah College's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Messiah College's 19th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Messiah College, see the exposure-zones guide.