Olney, MD
Olney, MD's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Olney at the 18th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 9,896 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Olney at the 17th national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Olney's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 58.2% of Olney's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 40.9% Indirect share and far above its 0.9% Minimal share — a profile where 5,761 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most. At 9,896 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
How Olney compares
Olney scores 18th nationally and 21st within Maryland — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Olney ranks 25,871 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 1,635 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 419 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
Olney and the insurance market
At the 18th national percentile, Olney rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because Direct exposure dominates in Olney (58.2%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Olney's 18th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Olney, see the exposure-zones guide.