Moscow, MD
Moscow, MD's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Moscow at the 57th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 131 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Moscow at the 54th national percentile — 2 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Moscow's buildings actually sit
50.4% of Moscow's 131 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 49.6% Direct and 0% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Where Moscow ranks
Within Maryland, Moscow ranks higher (80th percentile) than it does nationally (57th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Moscow ranks 13,614 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 27,668 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 107 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Moscow
Moscow's elevated wildfire rating (57th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
What would actually reduce this score
Because 50.4% of Moscow'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.
Where Moscow's figures come from
Moscow's 57th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Moscow's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.