Portland, CT
Portland wildfire risk explained
Portland's 2,954 buildings earn a 39th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Portland's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 37th percentile nationally.
Portland's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Portland's buildings (63.4%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
Where Portland ranks
Compare Portland's two percentiles: 74th within Connecticut, only 39th nationally — a gap of 36 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Portland ranks 19,371 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,507 by building count (1 is largest). Within Connecticut alone, it ranks 56 of 214 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Connecticut on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Portland
Portland's moderate wildfire rating (39th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Portland (63.4% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Portland's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 2,954 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Portland. The exposure-zones guide covers what Portland's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.