Newton, MA
How exposed is Newton to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Newton at the 22nd national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 26,831 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Newton at the 20th percentile, close to its 22nd-percentile risk score.
Newton's building exposure, zone by zone
94.1% of Newton's 26,831 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 5.9% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself. At 26,831 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Newton against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Newton's 22nd national percentile and its 30th percentile inside Massachusetts, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Newton ranks 24,518 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 461 by building count (1 is largest). Within Massachusetts alone, it ranks 173 of 248 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Massachusetts on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Newton
At the 22nd national percentile, Newton rates moderate 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 Newton
Even with 94.1% of Newton outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
Where Newton's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 26,831 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Newton. The exposure-zones guide covers what Newton's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.