Patten, ME
Patten, ME's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Patten lands at the 15th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 440 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Patten at the 15th percentile, close to its 15th-percentile risk score.
Where Patten's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 63% of Patten's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 37.1% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 277 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
How Patten compares
Within Maine, Patten ranks higher (72nd percentile) than it does nationally (15th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Patten ranks 26,791 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 18,459 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maine alone, it ranks 44 of 155 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maine on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Patten's low rating (15th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
With 63% of Patten 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.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Patten's 26,791-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Patten, see the exposure-zones guide.