Old Bennington, VT
Old Bennington, VT's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Old Bennington at the 17th national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 116 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 Old Bennington at the 17th percentile, close to its 17th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
116 buildings are counted in Old Bennington, and 97.4% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 0% rated Minimal.
Old Bennington against the rest of the country
Old Bennington's 69th-percentile standing inside Vermont outpaces its 17th 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, Old Bennington ranks 26,266 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 28,391 by building count (1 is largest). Within Vermont alone, it ranks 57 of 179 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Vermont on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Old Bennington's low wildfire rating (17th 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 Old Bennington
Old Bennington's 97.4% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
Where Old Bennington's figures come from
Old Bennington's 17th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Old Bennington's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.