Ocean, MD
How exposed is Ocean to wildfire?
USFS scores Ocean at the 55th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 15 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Ocean's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 53rd percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Of Ocean's 15 counted buildings, 100% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first. This is a small settlement by building count — 15 total — so these shares describe a handful of structures, not a statistical average across thousands.
Where Ocean ranks
Within Maryland, Ocean ranks higher (78th percentile) than it does nationally (55th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Ocean ranks 14,185 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 31,487 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 121 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
Ocean and the insurance market
Ocean's elevated rating (55th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in Ocean
With 100% of Ocean in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
Where Ocean's figures come from
Ocean's 55th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. Small places like Ocean (15 buildings) are exactly where USFS's underlying data gets sparsest — see the data-quality guide for the 517 places that didn't clear the bar.