Palo Alto, PA
Palo Alto wildfire risk explained
Palo Alto's 394 buildings earn a 54th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Palo Alto at the 52nd percentile, close to its 54th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS puts 57.1% of Palo Alto's 394 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 42.9% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Palo Alto against the rest of the country
Within Pennsylvania, Palo Alto ranks higher (89th percentile) than it does nationally (54th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Palo Alto ranks 14,574 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 19,338 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 221 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
Palo Alto and the insurance market
Palo Alto's elevated rating (54th 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 Palo Alto
Palo Alto's 57.1% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Palo Alto's 54th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Palo Alto, see the exposure-zones guide.