Rutherford, PA
Rutherford, PA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Rutherford at the 30th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 1,643 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Rutherford's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 31st percentile nationally.
Rutherford's building exposure, zone by zone
69.1% of Rutherford's 1,643 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 15.7% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Where Rutherford ranks
There's little gap between Rutherford's 30th national percentile and its 38th percentile inside Pennsylvania, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Rutherford ranks 22,075 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,611 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 1,230 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Rutherford
Rutherford's moderate wildfire rating (30th 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
Even with 69.1% of Rutherford 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.
More on how this number was built
Rutherford's 30th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Rutherford, see the exposure-zones guide.