Petersham, MA
Petersham wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Petersham lands at the 26th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a figure built from its 202 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 Petersham at the 26th percentile, close to its 26th-percentile risk score.
Petersham's building exposure, zone by zone
Of Petersham's 202 counted buildings, 95.1% 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.
Where Petersham ranks
Compare Petersham's two percentiles: 53rd within Massachusetts, only 26th nationally — a gap of 27 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Petersham ranks 23,232 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,764 by building count (1 is largest). Within Massachusetts alone, it ranks 115 of 248 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Massachusetts on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 26th national percentile, Petersham rates moderate 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
Petersham's 95.1% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
More on how this number was built
Petersham's 26th-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 Petersham, see the exposure-zones guide.