Potomac Heights, MD
Potomac Heights wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Potomac Heights lands at the 42nd percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 472 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Potomac Heights at the 41st national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Indirect exposure is dominant in Potomac Heights (62.5% of 472 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 37.3% sit in the Direct zone.
How Potomac Heights compares
Within Maryland, Potomac Heights ranks higher (61st percentile) than it does nationally (42nd) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Potomac Heights ranks 18,271 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 17,839 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 209 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
Potomac Heights and the insurance market
Potomac Heights's elevated wildfire rating (42nd 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.
Hardening a home in Potomac Heights
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Potomac Heights (62.5% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Potomac Heights's 42nd-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 Potomac Heights, see the exposure-zones guide.