Punxsutawney, PA
Punxsutawney wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Punxsutawney at the 38th national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 2,999 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Punxsutawney at the 39th national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
84.6% of Punxsutawney's 2,999 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 15.4% Direct and 0% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
How Punxsutawney compares
Punxsutawney's 58th-percentile standing inside Pennsylvania outpaces its 38th 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, Punxsutawney ranks 19,490 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,438 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 838 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Punxsutawney
At the 38th national percentile, Punxsutawney rates moderate 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
Because 84.6% of Punxsutawney's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Punxsutawney's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 2,999 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Punxsutawney. The exposure-zones guide covers what Punxsutawney's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.