Rensselaer Falls, NY
Rensselaer Falls wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Rensselaer Falls at the 18th national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 205 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Rensselaer Falls at the 15th national percentile — 3 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
Direct exposure dominates in Rensselaer Falls: 52.7% of its 205 buildings, versus 47.3% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Rensselaer Falls against the rest of the country
Rensselaer Falls's 41st-percentile standing inside New York outpaces its 18th 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, Rensselaer Falls ranks 25,854 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,667 by building count (1 is largest). Within New York alone, it ranks 760 of 1,289 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New York on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Rensselaer Falls's low wildfire rating (18th 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 52.7% of Rensselaer Falls in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
Where Rensselaer Falls's figures come from
Rensselaer Falls's 18th-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 Rensselaer Falls's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.