Pocomoke City, MD
How exposed is Pocomoke City to wildfire?
Pocomoke City sits at the 66th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 1,910 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Pocomoke City's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 66th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS puts 74.7% of Pocomoke City's 1,910 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 25.3% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
How Pocomoke City compares
Compare Pocomoke City's two percentiles: 90th within Maryland, only 66th nationally — a gap of 25 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Pocomoke City ranks 10,774 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 7,731 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 52 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Pocomoke City
Pocomoke City's high rating (66th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Pocomoke City's 74.7% 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
Pocomoke City's 66th-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 Pocomoke City, see the exposure-zones guide.