Rangeley, ME
Rangeley wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Rangeley at the 7th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 763 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Rangeley at the 6th national percentile — 0 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Rangeley's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 61.2% of Rangeley's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 36.7% Indirect share and far above its 2.1% Minimal share — a profile where 467 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
How Rangeley compares
Rangeley's risk sits at a similar level relative to Maine (3rd percentile statewide) as it does nationally (7th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Rangeley ranks 29,435 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,985 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maine alone, it ranks 151 of 155 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maine on its state page.
Rangeley and the insurance market
At the 7th national percentile, Rangeley rates low 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
Rangeley's 61.2% 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 Rangeley's figures come from
Rangeley's 7th-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 Rangeley's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.