Otego, NY
Otego wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Otego at the 14th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 527 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Otego at the 14th national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Of Otego's 527 counted buildings, 63.8% 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.
How Otego compares
Within New York, Otego ranks higher (34th percentile) than it does nationally (14th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Otego ranks 27,113 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 16,910 by building count (1 is largest). Within New York alone, it ranks 856 of 1,289 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New York on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Otego
Otego's low rating (14th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because Direct exposure dominates in Otego (63.8%), 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
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 527 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Otego. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Otego, see the exposure-zones guide.