Rumford, ME
Rumford, ME's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Rumford at the 7th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 1,995 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Rumford at the 7th percentile, close to its 7th-percentile risk score.
Where Rumford's buildings actually sit
USFS puts 80.9% of Rumford's 1,995 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 19.1% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Rumford against the rest of the country
Rumford's risk sits at a similar level relative to Maine (5th 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, Rumford ranks 29,406 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 7,491 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maine alone, it ranks 147 of 155 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maine on its state page.
Rumford and the insurance market
Rumford's low wildfire rating (7th 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
Rumford's 80.9% 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 Rumford's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Rumford's 29,406-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Rumford's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.