Pondsville, MD
Pondsville wildfire risk explained
Pondsville sits at the 57th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 93 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Pondsville at the 54th percentile, close to its 57th-percentile risk score.
Pondsville's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS classifies 100% of Pondsville's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 0% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 93 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
Pondsville against the rest of the country
Compare Pondsville's two percentiles: 80th within Maryland, only 57th nationally — a gap of 23 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Pondsville ranks 13,582 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 29,353 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 106 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
Pondsville and the insurance market
At the 57th national percentile, Pondsville rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
Pondsville's 100% 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.
Where Pondsville's figures come from
Pondsville's 57th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Pondsville's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.