Richmond, VT
Richmond, VT's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Richmond at the 14th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 397 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Richmond at the 14th national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Richmond's buildings actually sit
USFS puts 65.5% of Richmond's 397 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 34.5% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Richmond against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Richmond's 14th national percentile and its 26th percentile inside Vermont, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Richmond ranks 27,246 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 19,286 by building count (1 is largest). Within Vermont alone, it ranks 133 of 179 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Vermont on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Richmond's low rating (14th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
Richmond's 65.5% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Richmond's figures come from
Richmond's 14th-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 Richmond's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.