North Beach, MD
North Beach, MD's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
North Beach sits at the 52nd percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 665 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks North Beach at the 52nd national percentile — 0 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where North Beach's buildings actually sit
Most of North Beach's buildings (86.8%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
Where North Beach ranks
North Beach's 72nd-percentile standing inside Maryland outpaces its 52nd national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, North Beach ranks 15,129 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 15,010 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 148 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
North Beach and the insurance market
North Beach's elevated wildfire rating (52nd 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.
Hardening a home in North Beach
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in North Beach (86.8% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 665 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for North Beach. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond North Beach, see the exposure-zones guide.