Rotterdam, NY
Rotterdam wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Rotterdam at the 16th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 10,059 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Rotterdam at the 15th national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Rotterdam's building exposure, zone by zone
67.5% of Rotterdam's 10,059 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 10.3% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself. At 10,059 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Rotterdam against the rest of the country
Within New York, Rotterdam ranks higher (37th percentile) than it does nationally (16th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Rotterdam ranks 26,605 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 1,597 by building count (1 is largest). Within New York alone, it ranks 812 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
At the 16th national percentile, Rotterdam 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
Even with 67.5% of Rotterdam outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
Where Rotterdam's figures come from
Rotterdam's 16th-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 Rotterdam's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.