Napeague, NY
How exposed is Napeague to wildfire?
Napeague sits at the 22nd percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 613 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Napeague's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 20th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
70.8% of Napeague's 613 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 24.1% Direct and 5.1% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
How Napeague compares
Within New York, Napeague ranks higher (47th percentile) than it does nationally (22nd) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Napeague ranks 24,718 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 15,660 by building count (1 is largest). Within New York alone, it ranks 684 of 1,289 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New York on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Napeague
At the 22nd national percentile, Napeague rates moderate 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
Napeague's 70.8% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Napeague's 24,718-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Napeague, see the exposure-zones guide.