Pelham, NY
How exposed is Pelham to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Pelham at the 29th national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 1,789 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Pelham's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 31st percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Pelham rates 83% Minimal exposure against just 17% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 1,789 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
Where Pelham ranks
Compare Pelham's two percentiles: 61st within New York, only 29th nationally — a gap of 32 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Pelham ranks 22,443 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,101 by building count (1 is largest). Within New York alone, it ranks 510 of 1,289 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New York on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Pelham's moderate rating (29th 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 Pelham
Even with 83% of Pelham outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,789 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Pelham. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Pelham, see the exposure-zones guide.