Northwest Harwich, MA
Northwest Harwich, MA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Northwest Harwich lands at the 31st percentile for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a figure built from its 3,766 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Northwest Harwich at the 21st percentile, close to its 31st-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
51.4% of Northwest Harwich's 3,766 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 30.1% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Where Northwest Harwich ranks
Compare Northwest Harwich's two percentiles: 79th within Massachusetts, only 31st nationally — a gap of 49 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Northwest Harwich ranks 21,902 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,457 by building count (1 is largest). Within Massachusetts alone, it ranks 52 of 248 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Massachusetts on its state page.
Northwest Harwich and the insurance market
At the 31st national percentile, Northwest Harwich 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 Northwest Harwich
Northwest Harwich's 51.4% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
Where Northwest Harwich's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Northwest Harwich's 21,902-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Northwest Harwich's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.