Polk, PA
Polk wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Polk at the 41st national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 382 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Polk at the 41st national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Polk's buildings actually sit
Indirect exposure is dominant in Polk (63.4% of 382 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 36.7% sit in the Direct zone.
Where Polk ranks
Polk's 65th-percentile standing inside Pennsylvania outpaces its 41st national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Polk ranks 18,670 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 19,606 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 706 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Polk
Polk's elevated rating (41st 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
Polk's 63.4% 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.
Where Polk's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Polk's 18,670-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Polk's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.